Unrivaled 2026

[GamecockFam]

Last year, the Mist were my team, but Jewell, Nai, and Sloot aren't playing this year, and Rickea and Aaliyah are on different teams. Oh well! That said, picking up Allisha Gray was the steal of the draft as far as I'm concerned—not sure how the Owls didn't protect her after she tore it up in the W last season. If Stewie and Arike recover from their in-season injuries, that team could be very dangerous and a lot of fun to watch.

I'll also look forward to watching the Breeze. Paige is my favorite, and I think she, Dom, and Rickea could really mix it up. Like you, I'm excited about the youth movement (also love Rivers and Citron).

Having said all that, the Phantom are my prediction to win it all. And I like for Kiki that she'll have the mentorship from Aliyah. (I was hoping that Paige would end up on a team with one of the veteran point guards like Tasha Cloud, Chelsea, or Courtney Williams for that same mentorship experience; I feel like a lot of the benefit of Unrivaled is the relationship building.)

Oh I meant to mention your comment about AB mentoring Iriafen. I find it interesting that everyone always talks about Boston like she is a 10 year vet. She has only played 3 years in the league and is 23 years old (younger than Paige!)! She is still on her rookie contract. So she literally has two more seasons of experience and a one year age gap between her and Iriafen. With that said, I'm sure Boston has some tricks of the trade to hand off but she is far from being an experienced vet.

 

[Jonathan14]

Oh I meant to mention your comment about AB mentoring Iriafen. I find it interesting that everyone always talks about Boston like she is a 10 year vet. She has only played 3 years in the league and is 23 years old (younger than Paige!)! She is still on her rookie contract. So she literally has two more seasons of experience and a one year age gap between her and Iriafen. With that said, I'm sure Boston has some tricks of the trade to hand off but she is far from being an experienced vet.

You're 100% correct. I think I mistake Aliyah for being older than she is because she's so smart and she's been so good for so long that I feel like she's been around forever, even though she's only been in the league for a short time.