Unrivaled’s second postseason, featuring Chelsea Gray, Breanna Stewart, and more, is set to be shared between Miami and Brooklyn.
With an expanded playoff field and residence, the 2026 Unrivaled postseason has a strong, intriguing opportunity to live up to its namesake.
Fresh off the conclusion of its second regular season, the domestic three-on-three league co-founded by accomplished names Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart has added two more teams to last year’s original four-squad bracket. The opening round and championship stages will be staged at the traditional home of Sephora Arena in Miami, sandwiching a semifinal couple at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the current site of Stewart’s WNBA affairs with the New York Liberty.
With the postseason set to get underway on Saturday night in South Beach, BIL has what you need to know about the six competing squads, two of which have already earned the trip north …
1. Phantom BC (11-3)
Points: Kelsey Plum (22.6)
Assists: Kelsey Plum (5.0)
Rebounds: Aliyah Boston (9.7)
Having recovered from a rollercoaster debut, top-ranked Phantom goes into the postseason on a particularly haunting note, winning each of its last seven en route to the top seed on the expanded bracket. Their endeavors have been primarily defined by the Boston-Plum tandem, one rife with playful public ribbing and physical space-generation that has allowed them to glide. Phantom will have a homecourt advantage once it gets to Brooklyn, as Natasha Cloud (who was previously regaled in the Philadelphia endeavor) will be playing in front of a supportive metropolitan crowd. Cloud and fellow veteran Tiffany Hayes have taken Kiki Iriafen, coming toward the end of her first professional endeavor, under their respective wings, rounding out the spooky serendipity of the “Ghost Gang.”
(Photo by Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images)
2. Mist BC (10-4)
Points: Allisha Gray (21.8)
Assists: Veronica Burton (4.6)
Rebounds: Breanna Stewart (9.1)
No matter what transpired in WNBA boardrooms, perhaps Brooklyn was always destined to host Breanna Stewart’s postseason endeavors. Stewart no doubt played a part in both securing the floor both through an administrative and on-court role, averaging a near double-double while essentially personifying the Mist’s well-balanced efforts that paced the league in scoring margin. Of course, it’s easy to league in that department with a vengeful Allisha Gray in tow: a late addition into the premier Mist lineup, the penetrating Gray (no doubt aided by Veronica Burton, the qualified leader in assist-to-turnover ratio) has endured her share of postseason torture over the past year, including first-round losses in both Unrivaled and the WNBA. She later made it to the finals of Unrivaled’s recent 1-on-1 Tournament but fell in a Gray civil war to the rose bloom Chelsea.
“Nobody can guard me. I’m not gonna be exposed. I know I’m a bucket, so be a bucket” -the birthday girl Allisha Gray of Mist BC talks the talk & walks the walk! One of my fave interviews from opening week of @Unrivaledwbb Season 2 on @TNTSportsUS! Catch games every Friday,… pic.twitter.com/AXTfwMwJmb
— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) January 12, 2026
3. Laces BC (10-4)
Points: Brittney Sykes (20.3)
Assists: Alyssa Thomas/Jackie Young (3.4)
Rebounds: Alyssa Thomas (7.9)
If there was any concern about Alyssa Thomas immediately leaping back into the fray after an injury scare in the WNBA Finals, the Unrivaled veteran immediately cast those notions aside with a strong return showing for the Laces, who flourished in health after mustering a .500 record with 10 different women dressing last season. The Laces got even tighter with the return of Jackie Young, one of the medical holdovers who was unburdened by another championship ring on her finger. It’d normally take a village to outshine those efforts but Sykes has certainly made a case and then some, breaking loose for over 20 points while sinking 40 percent of her 3-point tries that make her a go-to option in target score time. Sykes enters the tournament holding the honor of scoring the original Unrivaled championship winner, having done so with Rose last year.
4. Rose BC (6-8)
Points: Chelsea Gray (24.2)
Assists: Chelsea Gray (6.1)
Rebounds: Angel Reese (10.3)
Rose slipped through the concrete of Unrivaled’s debut postseason showing to pull off a championship upset. It was kept well-watered by the MVP efforts of Chelsea Gray, the “Point Gawd” who continued to live up to her designated deification by dominating on the individual numerical leaderboards. Rose found further divine intervention with wheeling and dealing away from the floor, adding Angel Reese, one of the last year’s winners, back to the fold for the final three games. With Reese partrolling the paint with Shakira Austin, there’s hope that Rose can shoot its way into another championship bid: paced by Gray’s fateful flings, Rose ranks second in field goal percentage and paced the eight in 3-point success rate.
Chelsea Gray is like, REALLY good at basketball pic.twitter.com/u7M1P7VFKV
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) January 10, 2026
5. Breeze BC (6-8)
Points: Paige Bueckers (22.1)
Assists: Paige Bueckers (5.1)
Rebounds: Dominique Malonga (9.4)
Armed with healthy reckless abandon and pretty much nothing to lose, Breeze is capable of getting gusty on the Unrivaled playoff bracket. The kids were quite all right when assembled on Breeze on this season, as Cameron Brink, Paige Bueckers, Rickea Jackson, and the dunking Dominique Malonga offered hints the the future of women’s basketball on a nightly basis. The youth-in-revolt project is now partly overseen by Courtney Williams, who was acquired in some multi-team movement after Aari McDonald was lost for the season. Williams merged fairly well with her on-court and cultural successors during the rush to the finish but the ultimate difference remains Bueckers, who continues to take advantage of personal redemption necessitated by previous injuries with a prime showcase at the three-on-three level.
6. Vinyl BC (5-9)
Points: Dearica Hamby (17.1)
Assists: Rhyne Howard (3.0)
Rebounds: Dearica Hamby (8.1)
Like Rose, Vinyl has fledgling historic precedent for crashing the postseason party, as Hamby previously oversaw a run to the championship game. Giving head coach Teresa Weatherspoon a homecoming dance will be a tall task considering that the Laces will be eager to trip them up in South Beach, but Vinyl does carry a sense of hardwood grit that could stand as a unique difference-maker in the breezier, more open three-on-three game. Another relied-upon x-factor could be Rhyne Howard, whose already packed plate saw her attempt to take over for the production lost upon Williams’ departure.
Playoff Outlook
As packed as the Unrivaled bracket may be, it’s hard to envision anyone scaring off the Phantom or finding clarity against the Mist. Potent wild cards certainly exist in the form of the sharpshooting Laces and the young, if not reckless, Breeze but that just goes to show how intimidating the top two squads have made themselves heading into what’s otherwise a compacted playoff picture.
Following tough debuts, both sides fully earned their automatic advancement through well-balanced play, unique chemistry, and trusted leadership. Championship panache peppers each roster (perfectly personified by Plum and Stewart leading the league with five game-winners each) and complementary young talents (i.e. Burton, Iriafen) have found their places.
Come the potential championship, the ultimate basketball irony will once again surface, one where tightly-compacted all-star groups go as far as their role players take them. Both are well-stocked in that department, but expect Mist’s downright elite and hopeful round-out group (Arike Ogunbowale, Alanna Smith, Li Yueru) to seal the deal in style.
Championship Prediction: Mist over Phantom
Tonight is the Night Playoff basketball is on your screen tonight at 8:30pm ET on truTV and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/7A3qe5ic4w
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) February 28, 2026
Schedule
Quarterfinals: Saturday, February 28 (@ Miami, FL)
(3) Laces vs. (6) Vinyl, 8:30 p.m. ET, TruTV
(4) Rose vs. (5) Breeze, 9:45 p.m. ET, TruTV
Semifinals: Monday, March 2 (@ Brooklyn, NY)
Byes: (1) Phantom, (2) Mist
Semifinal 1: 7:30 p.m. ET, TNT/TruTV
Semifinal 2: 8:45 p.m. ET, TNT/TruTV
Championship: Wednesday, March 4 (@ Miami, FL)
Championship: 9:30 p.m. ET, TNT/TruTV
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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