"Format probably harder to do with even a minor injury" - WNBA fans react to concerns about injuries in Unrivaled piling up weeks before season tipoff

The Unrivaled League, launched in January 2025, is a big step forward for professional women’s basketball. Unrivaled presents WNBA stars with the opportunity to train, play and improve without the need to make any overseas commitments during the offseason, which has become a norm within the WNBA.

Unrivaled also makes an effort to provide female athletes with amenities like chef-prepared meals, massage therapy and facial services. However, despite all its advantages, Unrivaled does have a few drawbacks. The most major is all the injuries that have begun to pile up as we approach the start of the WNBA season.

The games in this league are played on a smaller court in a 3v3 format with an 18-second shot clock. This encourages fast-paced action but also places extra physical strain on athletes. As a result, injuries have begun to pile up and WNBA fans are taking notice, some have even voiced their concerns in a Reddit post about the Unrivaled injuries.

The original Reddit post asked:

"Could Unrivaled Injuries Impact the WNBA Season? (The Next)"

“I think it would actually be well received if they were just upfront and said: we are a player-first league and no one is going to play through even a small injury if they don’t want to. I also agree this format is probably harder to do with even a minor injury. You can’t just hide out in the corner or play limited minutes, you are in actions every second you’re on the court.” one fan wrote

“I definitely think the pace/change of direction and court size do make this harder and more strain on the players body just hard to say if the actual injuries are more or less than other leagues.” another fan said

Some fans speculated that all the recent injuries aren’t all that serious and are likely a result of players being cautious ahead of their WNBA training camps:

“I think players are staying out longer than maybe they normally would so that it doesn’t affect their W season. Some of these players would have probably played through some of this if it was the W season, but don’t want to risk making any injuries worse before training camp.” one fan said

“Are the injuries “piling up” or are players just being more cautious as training camps approach?” another fan said

Sabrina Ionescu’s Unrivaled season is already over

Sabrina Ionescu took part in the Unrivaled League making nine appearances for the Phantom. Through those nine games, she recorded 18.0 points, 4.1 assists, and 7.0 rebounds per game. However, her season has now come to an end prematurely, as announced by Meghan L. Hall via X on Monday.

According to Hall’s update, Ionescu won’t participate in any of the remaining matches due to prior commitments. The 27-year-old has often opted to train herself instead of opting to travel overseas during the WNBA offseason.

So, Unrivaled's existence probably made the process a lot easier for Ionescu this time around. It’ll be interesting to see what she has in store for us when the New York Liberty plays its first game of the 2025 WNBA season on May 17, 2025.