Unrivaled League's One-On-One Revolution

We break down Unrivaled’s second season and why its 1v1 tournament hit a nerve: real stakes, pure skill, and a champion in Chelsea Gray who turned skunks into comebacks. Then we ask if the NBA could ever make this work and what it would take to get stars to buy in.

• how the three-on-three full court format amplifies skill and pace
• why the 1v1 tournament feels like real stakes, not a gimmick
• Chelsea Gray’s comeback wins and defensive craft
• key matchups, skunks, and surprise runs across the bracket
• the role of conditioning and shot creation in isolation
• why the NBA avoids 1v1: contracts, brands, fatigue, incentives
• a blueprint for making an NBA 1v1 viable
• how this innovation lifts the WNBA narrative heading into the season

Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about one the unrivaled league and two my show

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Unrivaled S2
• 0:40 What Makes The League Different
• 2:06 The Art And Stakes Of 1v1
• 3:14 Chelsea Gray’s Road To The Title
• 7:29 Viral Moments And Fan Energy
• 9:28 Why It Works: Money And Structure
• 11:06 Best Matchups And Shockers
• 16:23 The NBA Question: Why Not
• 19:20 Could The NBA Ever Do It
• 21:06 Why Unrivaled Matters Now
• 22:23 Listener Prompts And Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now, today we're diving into one of the more fascinating experiments in modern basketball. It's the second season of the Unrivaled League. And more specifically, the electric headline grabbing one-on-one tournament that has the fans buzzing. Now we're going to break down how the unrivaled second season has evolved, what made the one-on-one tournament such a spectacle, who won it, and why it matters. And the big question: why hasn't the NBA ever pulled this off? Now let's get into it. So, the Unrivaled second season. So far, it has been bigger, sharper, louder, right? If season one of the unrivaled league was proof of concept, the second season really is feeling like validation. It's been pretty solid, I'm not gonna hold you. And in 2025, the first, like during the inaugural season, I did say this league might in fact be unrivaled. Because the one-on-one tournament that they got, the NBA, it's not really holding up. You know what I'm saying? Like it's NBA might be too scared to do that. Like I said, this unrivaled league, ladies and gentlemen, has been very entertaining. Now, it was co-founded by the WNBA stars and UConn, former stars being Brianna Stewart and Nafisa Collier. The Unrivaled League was built to solve a real problem. Elite women's players having to go overseas during the offseason to earn top money and stay sharp. Because remember, the WMB's the WNBA hopefully is taking place come May. Fingers crossed, we gotta wait and see what happens with the CBA agreement, right? But the unrivaled league is condensed, has high scoring, it's player-owned, and most importantly, it's been experimental. But it's been a success, I gotta say, right? It's a three-on-three full court. Woo! Three-on-three full court, which allows for more spacing, right? More isolation plays, more creativity. And in season two, the league actually leaned into what the fans love the most, individual brilliance. Now, yes, basketball is a team game, ladies and gentlemen. But that's where the one-on-one tournament comes in, right? Like in one-on-one, that's arguably the purest form of basketball theater, okay? Now let's be honest, right? One-on-one basketball, it's his most primal. No help defense, no switching, no hiding, no systems, just skill versus skill. Now, this one-on-one tournament took the league's most dynamic scores and put them in a bracket-style showdown. The games were quick, high intensity, first to a set score format to 11, to be clear. There's no dragging possessions, no load management. Every possession mattered. And the players took it personally. You can easily see that. You can see it in the body language, the trash talk, the defensive pride. This wasn't an all-star gimmick that we've been known to see. This felt like something to win. The eventual champion, Chelsea Gray, she won it all in the second season. Remember, last year was Nefisa Collier. That's right, one of the co-founders actually won it last year. It was a really good feel. Then Nafisa gets injured. I'm not saying this is the reason why Chelsea Gray won it, but Nafisa was injured. So we didn't get a chance to see her. But when Chelsea Gray played, well, ladies and gentlemen, it was pretty spectacular. We had multiple comebacks. I'm talking about, again, going to 11. She down 8-0. It looked like Chelsea about to get skunked. And then Chelsea come back and win some games. Now, I'm a little biased, right? She did come from Duke, and y'all know I'm a Duke. Y'all know I'm a Dukey. You know what I'm saying? Y'all know I'm a Blue Devil fan, right? So Chelsea does come from good stock. You know what I'm saying? But outside of college, you gotta remember, this is the finals MVP as early as 2022. Four-time WNBA champion. Like, I'm a Sparks fan too, and she help brought a championship to my Sparks. I love Chelsea Grady. So she proved three critical things. One, shock creation is still the most valuable skill in basketball. Yeah, we love Cita playmaking, which she's called point God, by the way. Shock creation is still the most valuable skill in basketball. And also conditioning matters when there's nowhere to hide. Oh my gosh, they looked extremely tired on the court. And rightfully so, if you've ever played one-on-one, you'll get why I say that. It's very tiring. Because again, you can't hide. It's it's it's it's defense versus offense the entire time. And then defense in isolation is a true art form. Because she played against taller players, quicker players. It didn't matter. She had to lock down and move them puppies. She had to get in a chair. People drove, she had to stay straight, tried to swather the ball occasionally. Like it's really an art form to play defense, but also to be able to get a bucket. Now, unlike five-on-five, like I said, where you can rely on rotations and schemes, this tournament forced one of my favorite words, accountability. And the fans loved it. Clips went viral, debates exploded online, matchups felt personal. It felt like it gave playground vibes, but in a professional setting. And that's why we like to see. That's why we like to see, ladies and gentlemen. So why did this work? Well, you gotta remember the stakes were real, okay? There was$200,000 on the line, which to be clear, that's about the same amount of money that Chelsea Gray made all last year for the WNBA. So in one tournament, you can take home 200 stacks. Stakes were real. And the timing was smart because remember, the unrivaled league is already structured as a tight elite offense or offseason league. So the tournament felt integrated, not bolted on. Like I see a nice little seamless transition from this to the remaining other of the league to then hopefully the WNBA season. So it leads into the WNBA season, generating even more topics. We also got to talk about the talent pool, ladies and gentlemen, because we had elite scores which were creating offense in tight spaces. Now, in a three-on-three league, isolation skills are already amplified. So the one-on-one events, they felt like a natural extension, not just a gimmick. So again, it's a great play on the current league's structure. And not to mention, too, the fans are star-driven. So modern basketball, right? The culture revolves around matchups. Like, can she guard her? Who's unguardable? Who has the deeper bag? The unrivaled lead turned Twitter debates into actual games. Now, some of my favorites watch, right? We had the same name matchups. In the championship game, we had Alicia Gray versus Chelsea Gray. And I told y'all Chelsea Gray won this matchup. She won all her matchups because guess what? She was the champion. She is the champion. Now, game one, Alicia actually skunked Chelsea. And to be clear, they the same names, last name, all right? They're not related, though. So game one, Alicia Gray wins 7-0. Matter of fact, if we don't want to be technical, Alicia actually scores 10 unanswered points because you play in the championship game three games, right? So Chelsea ends up winning the next game eight to three. Never mind, like I told y'all, Alicia wins, hits ten unanswered points. So she went, she skunks game one, seven-o skunk. In game two, she scores the first three. Chelsea goes eight unanswered points. And then the next game, Alicia goes 6-0. Like six unanswered points. And then Chelsea has to come back and win the game three, eight to six. It was a spectacular championship round. And both players looked extremely tired. I hate it though, there was one part I do got to point out. I don't know what was said, but Alicia and Chelsea had just had were leaning over in fatigue, and they talked amongst one another. Right after that, Chelsea ends up hitting the game-winning shot. So for those of y'all who think a script writing's a thing, maybe that was a moment where they were trying to get something situated. I don't like like it just I didn't like the way that looked optics-wise. But it was a good game, nonetheless. Another same name moment, right? We had Aaliyah Boston beating Aaliyah Edwards, who was last year's runner-up. All right. And keep in mind, too, Aaliyah Boston skunks Aaliyah Edwards. It was kind of disgusting. Like she wins 11 to 0. That one hurt. That one hurt. Now, some of my best matchups. We had Kelsey Plum going up against Kelsey Mitchell. I think that might have been considered the best guard matchup, right? We had Paige going up against her teammate in Arique. Paige ends up winning that matchup, which, if y'all have been listening to me over the last year, y'all know I've said I think the Dallas Wings are going to eventually make a trade, sending Arike somewhere. This could be further evidence as to why they may view Paige as the better player. She just beat Arike in a one-on-one matchup. She was a WNBA All-Star starter. This is helping bringing up some of them narratives, ladies and gentlemen. We also had Kelsey Plum versus Chelsea. And remember, these are former teammates. They both were on the aces. But here's another thing. Chelsea used to be on my sparks, like I said. Kelsey's currently on my sparks. Now, Plum goes up 8-0, and then Chelsea comes back and wins it 12-8. So the theme was, like I told y'all, we had to have multiple comebacks from Chelsea. But that was a really good matchup. I can't hold y'all. That was a really good matchup. The bet I I wanted to say this next matchup would have been the best one in Chelsea Gray versus Paige Beckers. I'm a Paige Beckers fan, right? I'm a little biased, and y'all know Chelsea I love, right? They got similar play styles because they're mid-range specialists. But Chelsea cooked Paige, like Jesus, that was disgusting work, bro. I felt so bad for Paige, man. 11 to 2, that was tough. Because if I had to choose some guards to watch, that would have been it. Now, I could have said, because this is my these were my biggest wants, I'll say, right? I wanted to see Paige versus Arique. Okay? And like I said, that did actually happen. I wanted to see Paige versus Kelsey Plum. Because my Sparks were in a position to draft Paige Beckers, and I thought we could have been on a dynasty run if that happened. But instead, we had to settle for Kelsey Plum, no disrespect. But I wanted to see that matchup because I needed folks who I've been talking to to understand that Paige Beckers is in fact better than Kelsey Plum. I also wanted to see a rematch for Brianna Stewart versus Aaliyah Edwards because last year, Brianna Stewart gets out early to Aaliyah Edwards. You would have expected Brianna Stewart to, in fact, go up against Nafisa Collier in the championship game, or at least get a little closer than getting out the first round. But Aaliyah Edwards surprised a lot of folk. Funny enough, Stewie gets out early for a second year, losing to a stronger big, because she ended up losing to Aaliyah Balston. That's just a nice little trend that I'm noting. So when we talk about Brianna Stewart, I don't know, those stocky bigs like Asia Wilson, that could be a little cause for pause for someone like Stewie. That's what I'm starting to see. I ain't gonna lie to you. But those were some of my biggest matchups that I wanted to see personally, ladies and gentlemen. Now, some of the more shocking occurrences, right? I've talked about it a little bit. The stud buds getting skunked, not winning the game. I understand that. Maybe a little less on Courtney. I expected Courtney to get a little bucket. You know what I'm saying? Get a bucket and be able to move them puppies on the defensive end. But she got skunked, again, that means zero points, by Veronica Burton, who is no slouch, to be clear. But zero buckets made Courtney, that's tough. And then Kelsey Plum skunks Heideman, Natisha Heideman. I can almost understand Natisha Heideman, but even she's able to get a bucket. So dang, that's kind of tough. Now, another more shocking, most shocking scenario was Ray Burrell in the quarterfinals. Because the journey that she did to get there, beating Ryan Howard in the first round. Now, I said that Brianna Stewart lost round one, so that's not an indictment on players. Remember, it's still 1v1. Anything can happen. But beating someone like Ryan Howard, who I throw up into the WNBA top 10 rankings. And then after that, beating Sonia Citron, who is now a sophomore into the league, but she had a stellar rookie season. That was impressive. Now you lose to Alicia Gray in a very solid match. I'm not gonna lie to you. It was cool. It was cool. But still, I was a little surprised that Ray Burrell, who again is on my Sparks, got to the corner finals. So kudos to the to Ray Burrell and kudos to the Sparks. I'm telling you right now, we got some narratives to start pushing, baby. Because listen, we got we did some things. Let's move on. Let's move on. I ain't trying to get into this. I ain't trying to get into the WNBA season. Because we got to talk about why hasn't the NBA done this? Because you just saw the level of excitement I had talking, getting ready to talk about my Sparks based on what occurred in this 1v1 tournament. Yes, basketball is a team game. But you gotta wonder well, why hasn't the NBA done this? Very same thing. Now we we can we could break down a couple reasons. Contract risk. Like, you know, NBA contracts are worth hundreds of millions, and a minor ankle tweak in a voluntary 1v1 contest could cost the franchise its season. Owners would panic, agents would revolt, the financial ecosystem is simply different. So I do hear that. Especially if you think about social media and how fans would start to turn on players. Oh, why'd you do that? See, I know you shouldn't have done it, you shouldn't have played, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I understand that part. The unrivaled league, by comparison, is built around controlled experiment. And the NBA is built around protecting massive investments. So I understand we come from a different point of view in comparison from the WNBA to the NBA. You also got brand protection, because imagine this a superstar, say someone like Braun, right, enters a one-on-one tournament and loses in the first round to a bench score. Like imagine Devin Harris beating the brakes off of LeBron Chimes. Or worse, imagine someone like Austin Reeves beating Braun. Or D'Angelo Russell. Hey yo, D'Lo getting saucy on Braun is kind of tough. I ain't gonna lie to you. Does that in fact hurt someone like Braun's brand? From a social media into the casual perspective, yeah, it would. And maybe to some to some hoop heads, that would maybe like knock Braun off the pedestal of, oh, he the goat discussions, right? Oh, he lost to D Lo. How could we call him Bron? You know what I'm saying? Like Jordan never lost 1v1, Comey never lost one V1. I could hear those being said. I could. Like the legacy debates are constant. Rings, finals records, clutch moments, adding a public one-on-one loss to that, it might be something the league prefers to avoid. I'm not gonna lie to you. So I get it. Meanwhile, the the unrivaled players, hey, they need more notoriety. So this might help them more than it would the NBA players. I hear that. All-Star Weekend also hasn't prioritized it. Yeah, it hasn't. Because the NBA has experimented with skills challenges. Draft Star, All-Star teams, even including the G-League players. The league tends to protect its biggest stars during the All-Star Weekend rather than expose them to physically demanding competitions. And a true 1v1 tournament, as we saw in the Unrivaled League, that would be exhausting, physical, and potentially bruising. And the stars already play 82 games plus play up, plus play-in and playoffs. Now, the WNBA season, it's about half that, right? So I get that being a reason, all right? Now, here's another thing, too. The players, like the NBA players, they might not want it. Now, this part I would call them scared if they don't want it, right? Now, this could also be the biggest reason because the players do need to want it. And I would be curious if they would entertain it now, especially after how the NBA All-Star Weekend, the current one, the 2020, the 2026 one, the 75th one, that seemed to be a little more entertaining, a little more investment. So I'm what I do wonder if they would do this now. Because these young guns seem to be a little bit more amped than what the old heads did. Now, the superstars, they gain very little from participating and risk a lot. If you win, people say you were supposed to. If you lose, it becomes a c it becomes content forever, by the way. So again, I do get why the players might not want to, but that also speaks to fear, being a little scary, just saying. So could the NBA ever do it? I think so. Because like I said, the appetite for this is there for the for the NBA fans. And you're getting that from the WNBA experiment. Social media thrives on the matchup cultures. Like we would love to see Steph versus Kyrie or Donovan Mitchell versus Ant-Man or Braun versus KD. Like we would love to see those matchups Jalen Brown versus Jason Tatum, who's the best player on the Celtics? Like, we would love to see these matchups going on. And again, you you we can even talk about teammates. The AAU circuit already already glorifies isolation scoring. Pro am runs create legendary stories. If the NBA were ever structured properly, maybe. Winner take all prize money, charity-based stakes, shortened court format, voluntary participation. It could become the most watched all-star event ever. But it would require buy-in from the league's top players. Like you gotta see Nikola Jokic, Giannis, Shay, Luca, Ant-Man, Wimby, KD, Steph, Braun, you gotta see players buy-in. Or if that's not if that don't happen, it's just gonna be noise. It is. So why has the unrivaled league's move mattered? Well, it's because it's not just filling off season space. It's actually innovation. It tests formats the NBA won't, or at least has not. It's amplifying individual skill and giving players ownership. Which, by the way, I think Kyrie Irving alluded to doing something like this a couple years ago, especially during the bubble, if I'm not mistaken. And people were kind of talking down about it. I actually liked the idea back then, hence why I'm a fan of the unrivaled league. And not to mention the one-on-one tournament might be the most important experiment yet. Because it answers questions that fans have asked for decades. What if we just let them go at each other? No screens, no help, no excuses, just hoops. I love it. So here are the biggest takeaways, ladies and gentlemen, as we close up this episode. The unrivaled second season shows that women's basketball isn't just growing, it's actually innovating. The one-on-one tournament didn't feel like a sideshow. It felt like a preview of where fans' engagement might go next. And whether the NBA ever follows suit or not, one thing is clear the appetite for pure competitive competition is stronger than ever. Now, let me know who you would want to see in an NBA one on one tournament. Because I think that could be pretty smooth. Matter of fact, I might even make that an episode. But I also want to hear, too, one, what's your thoughts of the unrivaled league's second season so far? Two, what matchups are you now most intrigued about watching come the hopeful WNBA season? And three, would you pay top dollar to see an NBA one-on-one tournament, bolstering the 32 top scores in the game, or the 32 best isolation scores, subjectively stated? That's what I want to hear. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about one the unrivaled league and two my show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.