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Unrivaled President Explains Roster Expansion Was For More Than Caitlin Clark

Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell revealed that there was more to the league's roster expansion than the pursuit of Caitlin Clark.

Grant Young

Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles the ball during the first half against the Connecticut Sun during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images
Sep 25, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles the ball during the first half against the Connecticut Sun during game two of the first round of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images / Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

On October 31, the Unrivaled 3x3 women's basketball league revealed that it would be expanding its roster from 30 players to 36 in its inaugural 2025 season.

"We're able to do this because we outperformed our financial projections," Unrivaled cofounder (and Minnesota Lynx star) Napheesa Collier said in an X post about the decision.

At this point, it was still uncertain whether Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark would be joining the league (although we now know she isn't). But the general assumption was that Unrivaled did this roster expansion largely in order to make room for her if she was to join.

However, Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell revealed this wasn't entirely the case during his appearance on a November 29 episode of "The Ringer WNBA Show".

"Because of the [roster expansion], we were able to then get [Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas] involved, because originally she was going to go play overseas and then changed her mind... and we're like, 'Well, we gotta figure out a way for AT to play.'

"So people think it was like 'Well, let's make extra roster spots so we can give ourselves more time to recruit Caitlin. That's not entirely true," Bazzell continued. "It was more about we already have players ready to come in [and] we want to make sure that they're a part of this."

Bazzell did go on to assert that Clark will always have a roster spot, then confirmed she won't be playing in the league in 2025 but will hopefully do so in the future.

Hopefully, a successful first season for Unrivaled will be enough to entice Clark to come on board in 2026.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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