Women's Fastbreak On SI

NBA Fans Clamor For 1v1 Tournament After Breanna Stewart Gets Shutout in Unrivaled

Breanna Stewart being shut out by Aaliyah Edwards in Unrivaled's one-on-one tournament has basketball fans wishing the NBA would do this during All-Star Weekend.
Grant Young|
Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Skylar Diggins-Smith (4) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Breanna Stewart (30) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Skylar Diggins-Smith (4) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Breanna Stewart (30) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The first night of the highly-anticipated Unrivaled one-on-one tournament took place on February 10.

There were eight different contests on Monday, with 16 of the world's best female basketball players competing against each other one-on-one. While there were several standout performances both on and off the court, the biggest story of the evening by far was what took place during the final contest.

This is when former UConn Huskies superstars and current Mist BC teammates Aaliyah Edwards and Breanna Stewart faced off. Given that Stewart has one of the deepest offensive bags in all of basketball, is an Unrivaled co-founder, and was a No. 1 seed in this one-on-one tournament, most predicted she'd breeze past Edwards in this opening round.

Then Stewart got shutout by Edwards, losing by a score of 12-0.

Bleacher Report's X account posted highlights from the match with the caption, "AALIYAH EDWARDS SHUTS OUT STEWIE 12-0 IN UNRIVALED 1V1 TOURNAMENT 🤯

"WILD."

While many fans are baffled by Stewart's sub-par performance, many are more excited about how the tournament is unfolding and discussing how fascinating a one-on-one tournament in the NBA would be.

"This is what they need to do at NBA All Star Weekend," one X user wrote in a reply.

Another added, "The NBA (egos and sneaker companies who sponsor said egos) would never. But if NBA players did run 1’s at the All Star Game it would be legendary."

"NBA fans saying they need this in the NBA

"Could be cool for NBA All Star," added a third.

While everybody seems to agree that the NBA All-Star Weekend could use this sort of excitement, the sentiment seems to be that players are too afraid to get embarrassed or shutout like Stewart did, and that's why it isn't happening.

This is another reason why these Unrivaled players deserve a ton of props for being willing to participate.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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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