Athletes Unlimited’s third women’s pro basketball season tips off
The GIST: Before Athletes Unlimited’s (AU) third basketball season tips off, here’s a primer on the pro league that’s giving women hoopers (including some of your WNBA faves) a chance to compete for individual glory during the W offseason. Cue “Trophies.”
How it works: Forty ballers participate in AU’s four-week season, which operates under a fantasy-inspired points system, with four new squads drafted each week.
- Scoring is based on individual and team performance, with athletes in the top four of the weekly leaderboard becoming captains who then draft teams for the next week of competition. At the end of the season, the player who accumulates the most cumulative points is crowned individual champion.
- And while it helps hoopers prepare for May’s WNBA season start, AU Basketball is way more than a tuneup — it’s a chance for women to play professionally in North America, instead of overseas, year round. Love to see it.
The players to watch: Eighteen current WNBA athletes will hit the AU courts this season, including the Phoenix Mercury’s Natasha Cloud, who’s back for a third AU season, plus the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray and Haley Jones.
- Add in the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces resident jokesters, Sydney Colson and Theresa Plaisance, and something viral is bound to happen.
How to tune in: Whether you’re in the U.S. or Canada, you can watch the majority of the AU season — including tomorrow’s 6 p.m. ET opener — for free in the WNBA app. Changing the game.
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