Angel Reese Unrivaled Debut Ratings Reveal Draws Attention
On February 9, the first-ever in-season trade for the Unrivaled 3x3 women's basketball team took place. Four teams were involved in the deal, and by the time the dust had settled, Rose BC were left with an open roster spot because they traded forward Azurá Stevens to Hive BC and received no players in return.
This raised some eyebrows. And these eyebrows were raised even higher once there were several cryptic social media posts informing fans to stay tuned about how Rose BC will fill this vacant roster spot.
This immediately sparked fan speculation that Chicago Sky star guard Angel Reese could be making her return to Unrivaled.
Reese was a key part of Rose BC being the winners of Unrivaled's inaugural season. And while she wasn't in Unrivaled's player developmental pool in 2026, this clearly didn't keep the league from making her available for Rose BC to add.
This became clear on February 11, when Rose BC and Reese announced that the former LSU Tigers superstar would indeed be taking her talents to South Beach and playing with Rose BC for the final weeks of Unrivaled's 2026 season.
Having Reese (who was Unrivaled's leading rebounder during the 2025 campaign) is obviously a massive benefit to Rose BC. And the thought was that it would also be beneficial for Unrivaled's ratings, given that Reese is inarguably one of the biggest stars in women's basketball.
Unrivaled's Ratings for Angel Reese's 2026 Rebut Turn Heads
Reese made her 2026 Unrivaled debut on February 20, when Rose BC played Hive BC. Reese played 11 minutes and scored 13 points while adding 8 rebounds.
Perhaps the most meaningful stat was Unrivaled's ratings for this game. And those were revealed with a February 24 article from Rebecca Bunch of TVRatingsGuide, which noted that Friday's Rose BC vs. Hive BC game (which Hive BC won by 2 points) averaged 130,000 viewers.
In contrast, recent Unrivaled games have been averaging between 103,000 and 175,000 fans, according to an X post from @Gameis_gameLFG. This means that Reese's return didn't do anything extraordinary for TV ratings.
🚨Angel Reese Unrivaled debut vs the Hive brought in 130,000 viewers.
— JMac | 🏀 (@Gameis_gameLFG) February 25, 2026
- The league recent games are averaging from 103,000-175,000. Do you think these are solid, good, or great numbers? pic.twitter.com/MeT7fd4u5r
It's worth noting that the other Unrivaled game that night (between Phantom BC and Laces BC) averaged 110,000 viewers, which suggests that the game involving Reese generated more interest.
Ultimately, it hasn't been ideal in terms of television ratings for Unrivaled this year. But that doesn't mean the league isn't still experiencing growth in other ways. And Reese being back on the court will only help that.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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