Sabrina Ionescu Joins Unrivaled League As Final Player on 'Historic' Contract

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Sabrina Ionescu is officially 'Unrivaled.'
Unrivaled, the new 3-on-3 women's basketball league founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, has announced Ionescu as their final wildcard player, joining the Phantom Basketball Club team.
SABRINA is UNRIVALED 👑 Filling the last wildcard spot ✅ SHE'S A PHANTOM 👻 pic.twitter.com/kShoP3rcY2
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) December 23, 2024
Ionescu is the upstart league's final, high-profile addition before Unrivaled tips off on Jan. 17. She underwent surgery to repair the UCL in her shooting hand in early December, an injury she played with through the final games of the 2024 WNBA Finals.
According to ESPN's Kendra Andrews, Ionescu's deal to join Unrivaled is "unprecedented and historic" complete with a salary that "puts her in a category of her own."
New York Liberty star and reigning WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu has signed an “unprecedented and historic” contract with Unrivaled, sources tell ESPN. It’s a salary that “puts her in a category of her own.”
— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) December 23, 2024
She’s the 36th and final athlete joining the new 3-on-3 league.
Ionescu is the 36th player to join the league, completing their player pool before Unrivaled tips off its inaugural season in Miami.
She won her first WNBA title this season with the New York Liberty and hit an unbelievable game-winning 3-pointer to take down the Minnesota Lynx in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. Now, Ionescu takes her talents to Unrivaled to compete during the WNBA offseason.
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Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.
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