Paige Bueckers to sign with Unrivaled: Projected top WNBA draft pick agrees to lucrative deal, per report

UConn star Paige Bueckers, who is expected to be selected No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings on Monday, is signing a lucrative three-year contract with Unrivaled, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. 

Bueckers had previously inked an NIL deal with Unrivaled, the upstart 3-on-3 league co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier that began play in 2025 and recently completed its inaugural season. While Bueckers earned equity in Unrivaled through that arrangement, it was not a player contract as she was still in college and competing for UConn. Now that Bueckers is turning pro, she’ll be able to participate in Unrivaled during the WNBA offseason. 

While the exact terms of Bueckers’ contract are unknown, she will make more in her first year of Unrivaled than she will over the course of her entire four-year rookie scale contract in the WNBA, per Andrews. Lottery picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft will earn $78,831 in their rookie season and $348,198 over the length of the contract, which means Bueckers’ Unrivaled deal is worth at least $350,000 per year. 

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Stewart and Collier founded Unrivaled to give themselves and their fellow WNBA players an avenue to compete and make money during the offseason without leaving the United States. The first season had some hiccups, but the average salary for the 36 founding players was $222,222, which was higher than the WNBA’s regular max contract. 

Unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler told Front Office Sports earlier this month that the league “almost broke even in the first year,” and hopes to boost revenue next season by increasing the seating capacity in its arena, improving merchandise options and selling more sponsorships. “This is sustainable,” Lawler said. “There’s definitely an appetite and great support for it.” 

Adding Bueckers will certainly help Unrivaled’s quest to achieve those goals. In addition to her on-court skills, Bueckers, who just won a national championship with UConn, is one of the most well-known and marketable players in the world. She will significantly increase Unrivaled’s viewership by herself. 

Whether or not Unrivaled actually becomes a self-sustaining league, it’s clearly a terrific option for WNBA players to have in the offseason. They’re able to train and compete with the best athletes in the world while, in many cases, earning more than they do in the WNBA and staying in the spotlight. 

Unrivaled has also helped “set the bar” for a women’s professional sports league, Collier said earlier this year. Money was a big part of that, but the players also raved about the amenities in Miami — everything from spa treatments to childcare to professional chefs.  

“Just being here has been a great experience,” Phoenix Mercury star Satou Sabally said in January. “This is up to our standards that we expect and deserve. It’s really great to operate in a room where everything is functioning on a high-performance level.”

As WNBA players continue their labor negotiations with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement, which is expected to be in place ahead of the 2026 season, they will lean on what they learned in Unrivaled. While bigger salaries are a major component of the labor talks, the WNBPA has made it clear that the “transformational change” it is looking for is not limited to paychecks.