3 Aces ready to open play in new women’s basketball league

The Aces’ point guard is one of 36 top WNBA players who are participating in the offseason three-on-three (3×3) league, which tips off Friday. All games will be played on a special court in Miami and will air on TNT and truTV and stream on Max.

Aces guards Jackie Young and Tiffany Hayes will also participate in the inaugural season.

As Gray spoke about her early involvement in Unrivaled, players had already offered rave reviews about the resources provided by the league, which was founded by 2024 WNBA Finals stars Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx.

“The first product, you only want to go up from there,” Gray said.

For nine weeks, players will compete at a 20,000-square-foot venue with a capacity for fewer than 1,000 people that was built just for Unrivaled. Players are reportedly earning six-figure salaries to participate in the league, which is heavily backed by investors.

There will also be a one-on-one single-elimination tournament Feb. 10-14. The winner will earn $250,000, plus $10,000 for their respective 3×3 teammates.

The league boasts brand sponsors in recovery, beauty and even furniture to help house, feed and treat the players during this stretch of the offseason.

State-of-the-art training facilities and amenities are nothing new for Aces players, and most of the Aces’ star players have avoided going overseas in recent years.

But there are still ways the Aces can benefit from the new league.

Gray leading Rose

There are six Unrivaled teams. Gray is captain of the Rose, who also include Kahleah Copper, Angel Reese, Brittney Sykes, Lexie Hull and Azurá Stevens.

For star rookie Reese and Hull, a teammate of Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, Gray’s passing is a game-changer.

“I’m used to getting right- or left-handed passes,” Hull said. “These passes (from Gray) are coming around the head, behind the back, between the legs. You just don’t know what’s coming.”

While Reese said Gray is making everyone improve, the offseason switch-up could also help the six-time All-Star and three-time WNBA champion.

“It’s been pretty cool to be on the side of, like, talking with (Reese) about angles. As a point guard, that’s where my head goes to try to get her a better look and a better shot,” Gray said. “To develop that type of chemistry and camaraderie to make her better and to make myself better.”

The work Gray is doing now could pay dividends in just a few months with the Aces. She’s extended through the 2025 WNBA season, but the team has some major work to do in free agency. Gray could find herself passing to unfamiliar targets again soon.

The preparation she put into getting ready for Unrivaled will also be beneficial. She worked with new Aces assistant coach Ty Ellis doing circuit training that she said left her “dead tired.”

Her basketball-specific workouts emphasized 3-point shooting, which she said she felt was a weakness after she missed the first 12 games of this past WNBA season due to a foot injury.

While she said she shifted her mindset to adjust to the faster-paced 3×3 game, she added that it’s “still basketball at the end of the day.”

Familiar faces on Laces

Gray’s teammates were placed on a different club with a peculiar name.

It’s not just Young and Hayes with ties to the Aces on the Laces team. Kate Martin played for the team in 2024 but was selected in the recent expansion draft by the new Golden State Valkyries franchise.

Kayla McBride was drafted to the organization that became the Aces in 2014, and she played for the team until 2020. Stefanie Dolson and Alyssa Thomas are the only Laces who have never called Las Vegas their basketball home.

Aces free agent Kelsey Plum was supposed to participate in Unrivaled, but she pulled out last month. Soon after, the league announced the first trade in its history with a three-way deal that landed Young and Hayes on the Laces.

“It’s just very interesting. If you just take off the ‘L’ that it spells ‘Aces,’” Gray said with a laugh, adding that she sees her teammates often in Miami. “I want the best for them, except when we play each other.”

The Laces said they have “no idea” why they ended up with such a coincidental name.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be here,” Hayes said.

But they have a few things going for them.

“The vibes have been really good,” Martin said.

It also helps that they have a wealth of 3×3 experience.

Young and Dolson became 3×3 Olympic gold medalists together in 2020, and Hayes participated in the recent Paris Olympics on Azerbaijan’s 3×3 team.

Laces coach Andrew Wade said Young’s “high level of athleticism” will be pivotal for the team to score within the first five to eight seconds of the game’s 18-second shot clock. He also praised her defensive prowess.

For Hayes, Unrivaled is a welcomed break from playing overseas. Before she came out of her brief WNBA retirement to play with the Aces this season, she played in Shanghai.

She emphasized that she and her teammates don’t expect Unrivaled to compare to the WNBA. They’re just happy to be on U.S. soil.

“I know for me, my mom didn’t used to like to travel,” Hayes said. “Now is a chance for her to see me play around this time because she never got to. That’s one of the biggest differences.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.