A HELPING HAND

As the fires continue to impact California, the sports world is looking to help. On January 13, it was announced that the professional sports teams in the Los Angeles area formed a coalition to help the victims of the fires.

In Florida, Unrivaled is looking to lend a helping hand as well.

“We’re a player-led league,” Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier said on January 9. “When we have things that are important to the players, I think that’s definitely something we want to get together on and brainstorm with,” she added.

The USC women’s basketball team was the first athletic event to take place in California after the fires, and following their win against Penn State, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb had a message for the fans and the greater California community.

As the situation in California continues to develop, we at Black Rosie Media send our best to everyone in California affected by the fires. I am sending love to my good friend and staunch women’s sports advocate, Kelsey Trainor, and her wife, Lauren.

Join me in donating if you can. Here is their GoFundMe page.

With love,

Erica L. Ayala, Head Black Rosie in Charge (HBIC)

📇 WNBA FREE AGENCY TRACKER

Liberty plan to core Stewart, Sabally & Plum offered the core designation

We’re getting closer to the official start of WNBA free agency. For the New York Liberty, they’ve got some work to do before the party gets started. That work began on January 11 when they reportedly cored Breanna Stewart.

On January 11, Madeline Kenney of the New York Post reported that the Liberty will designate Stewart as a core player before free agency officially begins. Stewart will return in 2025 as the Libs try to run it back and stay on top of the WNBA mountain.

The two-time MVP has said on plenty of occasions, she’s happy in New York and is here for the long term. As Vice President of the Players Association, Stewart has another purpose in accepting the core designation:

“I don’t mind the one-years. I’m going to burn my core.” 

For those that are unaware, the core designation is essentially the equivalent of the NFL’s franchise tag. It’s a bit more complicated than that, and thankfully, Her Hoop Stats has an extensive breakdown for us. But rest assured, Stew York will be back at the Barclays Center this spring. Back in 2023, Liberty GM was asked if he planned on coring Stewart, and it is safe to say if we saw him right now, he’d say the same thing now that he did then:

“Stewie will 100 percent be cored. She will not be an unrestricted free agent.”

In other moves on the WNBA Transactions tab, the Las Vegas Aces have offered a qualifying core designation to Kelsey Plum, and the Dallas Wings have done the same for Satou Sabally.

Last week, we reported that Sabally will not return to Dallas, so this has to be a sign-and-trade. Plum is also expected to leave the Aces.

As Callie Fin wrote, this move “doesn’t necessarily mean Plum will return to the Aces this season, but it does ensure the team will receive compensation if a deal is made for her to leave.”

The Chicago Sky also made a trio of reserve qualifying offers, but notably, nothing yet to guard Chennedy Carter. We will watch the WNBA Transactions page as we get closer to the signing window.

Here are the key dates for free agency:

• Jan. 11-20: 

  • Teams can make qualifying offers and "Core" player designations

• Jan. 21: 

  • Teams can begin negotiating with free agents, but no deals can be signed

• Feb. 1: 

  • Players can officially sign contracts and offer sheets

🌴 IT’S SHOWTIME FOR UNRIVALED!

We’re THREE DAYS away!

January 17th is the official launch for Unrivaled as the league co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier will tip off in Florida. This moment has been years in the making and has fans excited worldwide.

Unrivaled will feature some of the very best basketball players in the world, as well as young stars who are starting to make names for themselves.

Last week, we found out who will be calling the action. Before the big day, they got some help from an icon in her own right.

As we saw during the #Paris2024 Olympics, 3×3 is a beast of its own. With Unrivaled, they will take 3×3 full court. As we heard from Skylar Diggins-Smith, this changes the game.

“The better spacing you have, the more opportunities you have to create for each other,” Skylar Diggins-Smith said at media availability on January 9th.

“It's six people, so it's just, it's three people [on the court at a time], and we've been trying to use the whole court. Obviously, this is a unique court all of us are playing on for the first time, but [in] utilizing the space, we've come to realize how important that is for all of us. Understanding we have all this space to work with, a lot of us standing out of each other's way but also creating the mismatches and opportunities for each other to work out of that space.”

It will take some time for the players to play 3×3 for the first time. However, they’ve all shown that they can excel in unique circumstances, so watching them take on this new challenge will be fun.