WNBA star forwards Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are forming an offseason U.S.-based women’s league that would both showcase the best players and comply with new WNBA rules, ESPN reported Thursday.

Stewart, of the New York Liberty, and the Minnesota Lynx’s Collier said the new league, named Unrivaled, plans to hold all events in Miami from January through March. In all, 30 of the top women’s players would be divided into six teams and play in 3-on-3 and 1-on-1 formats.

Their hope is to help the best WNBA players make enough money in the offseason that they can stay stateside and give up playing overseas. With family concerns part of the equation, the other half is the WNBA’s prioritization rule, which takes effect this coming offseason.

Under the rule, players must make their WNBA teams a priority and return from foreign commitments before the start of league training camp next spring. Often, the overseas season is still ongoing at the start of camp and sometimes into the season.

“It’s the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players,” Stewart told ESPN. “We can’t keep fighting (the WNBA’s prioritization rule). It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule.”

Stewart and Collier, both former UConn stars, discussed the idea over dinner along with Collier’s husband, Alex Bazzell. As basketball players and mothers, both see an opportunity for women to make money without leaving the United States.

“We’ve all been talking and realizing that we’re missing a moment, having a lot of our players be overseas or not playing basketball (during the offseason),” Stewart told ESPN. “… I think top players, they want to be playing, right? They want to be home, they want to be playing, but it has to make sense. It has to be right and the money has to be right. And I think that’s what Unrivaled is trying to do.”

While Stewart played in Turkey in the offseason, Collier stayed home after giving birth to her first child in 2022.

“I’m a homebody, by nature. I love being home for the holidays,” Collier told ESPN. “Being away from your family for six months, it’s not easy. Then the idea of having a family trying to figure out childcare overseas. That was kind of the main reason (for Unrivaled). But secondly, just the narrative around where the game is going right now. You have a lot of people, especially college players, saying that they would prefer to be in college than come to the league.

“And women’s basketball’s kind of the only place that that’s happening. It’s just not trending in the direction that we want. We’ve come so far. We want to obviously go a lot farther. So, having that narrative is just really harmful. And it’s true right now. So we definitely want to try to change that. I think we’re in such a special time right now. People are really finally starting to see the value of women’s sports.”

Stewart, 28, and Collier, 26, are working with potential business partners and are meeting with leaders from business and other sports leagues to form Unrivaled, with the goal of a January launch.

–Field Level Media

Allisha Gray scored 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, Rhyne Howard shot 5 of 9 from 3-point range and the Atlanta Dream used a balanced offensive attack to cruise to a 90-79 road victory over the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday.

Atlanta (8-8) trailed for all of 12 seconds in the opening minutes before a Nia Coffey 3-pointer ignited a 12-0 Dream run. Atlanta led the rest of the way, as Los Angeles (7-11) found itself playing catch-up from a deficit of as many as 15 points in the first quarter.

The Sparks battled back to within five points midway through the third quarter, thanks in part to Azura Stevens’ six straight points over one stretch.

But after Los Angeles trimmed the deficit to 56-51 with 5:05 to go in the third, Atlanta scored 13 straight points to take control for good. The Dream’s lead swelled to as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.

Wednesday’s win was Atlanta’s third straight and second over Los Angeles in as many meetings. After Howard nearly set the franchise single-scoring record with 43 points in the Dream’s 112-84 win over the Sparks on Sunday, Atlanta took a different offensive approach to Wednesday’s victory.

Nine Dream scorers posted at least four points, with all five starters finishing with at least seven. Cheyenne Parker went for a double-double with 14 points and team-high 11 rebounds.

Coffey added nine points and six rebounds, and Danielle Robinson — who chipped in seven points — was one of three Atlanta players to pass for six assists (along with Gray and Howard).

Thirty of the Dream’s 33 made field-goal attempts came off of assists, including four from Haley Jones off the bench. AD Durr scored another seven points in reserve duty.

Nneka Ogwumike led Los Angeles with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. She was one of four Sparks scorers in double figures, joining Stevens (16 points), Jordin Canada (13) and Zia Cooke (11).

Canada also dished a game-high seven assists in her return to the lineup following a one-game injury absence.

–Field Level Media

Jackie Young scored a team-high 28 points as the WNBA-leading Las Vegas Aces overcame a double-digit deficit and defeated the visiting Dallas Wings 89-82 on Wednesday for their ninth consecutive win.

The Aces, who were down by 14 points in the first quarter, improved to 16-1 this season. Las Vegas is also the only team in the league undefeated at home, 10-0.

Dallas, which was led by Natasha Howard, fell to 8-9 overall and 2-7 on the road. The Wings had their two-game winning streak end.

Howard scored a game-high 32 points, and she added a game-high-tying 13 rebounds. She made 13 of 23 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 9 from 3-point range, and she connected on all three of her foul shots.

Las Vegas also got 22 points and 13 rebounds from reigning league MVP A’ja Wilson. The Aces’ Chelsea Gray added 20 points, and she had a team-high six assists.

The Aces held Dallas’ Satou Sabally to nine points. She was coming off a season-high, 27-point performance in an 89-72 win over the Washington Mystics on Sunday. The Aces also held All-Star Arike Ogunbowale to 12 points — 10 below her season average.

Ogunbowale, who had a game-high seven assists, went scoreless in the second half.

In the first quarter, Dallas went on an 11-0 run for a 26-12 advantage with 2:32 left. However, Las Vegas closed the quarter on a 9-0 stretch, cutting the deficit to 26-21.

The Wings led 51-42 at halftime after shooting 48.8 percent from the floor, including 4 of 10 from deep.

Las Vegas shot a stellar 50 percent from the floor in the first half, including 5 of 12 from 3-point range, but the Aces were hampered by 10 turnovers.

Howard led all first-half scorers with 20 points. Young topped Las Vegas with 15 points at the break, and Gray had 14 points.

The Aces caught Dallas at 55-55 on two Wilson free throws with 5:42 left in the third quarter, but the Wings responded with an immediate 10-0 run.

Las Vegas’ defense then stiffened, holding Dallas to just two points over the final three minutes of the third quarter, cutting the gap to 67-65.

The fourth quarter featured five lead changes. The fifth change came on a 3-pointer by Alysha Clark with 5:32 left that gave Las Vegas a 79-76 advantage.

Wilson scored the next four points as the Aces pulled away.

–Field Level Media

Napheesa Collier scored 32 points to go with eight rebounds and Kayla McBride added 21 points as the Minnesota Lynx defeated the Indiana Fever 90-83 in Minneapolis on Wednesday to stretch their winning streak to four games.

Lindsay Allen chipped in 16 points for the Lynx (8-9), who moved within a game of .500 after starting the season with six consecutive losses.

Minnesota shot 46.6 percent from the field compared to 47.1 percent for the Fever, who lost their fifth straight contest to fall to 5-12.

NaLyssa Smith notched a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, while Aliyah Boston contributed a team-high 22 points to go with nine boards.

Indiana remained close for much of the night, never trailing by double digits until the final 4:01. Containing Collier simply proved to be too difficult. She finished 11-for-23 from the floor while scoring at least 25 points for the fifth time in the past eight games.

Allen had six assists for the Lynx. Erica Wheeler had seven for the Fever.

Indiana capitalized on a frenetic pace to start the game, grabbing a 12-10 lead out of the gate, a spurt keyed by six points from Boston.

Minnesota gained momentum after that, though, scoring 16 of the game’s next 23 points to take a 26-19 advantage at the end of one quarter.

Collier had 16 points at the break while McBride added 10, helping the Lynx to a 47-42 halftime advantage behind 55.2 percent shooting from the floor. Indiana shot just 41.7 percent but stayed close thanks to Boston’s 16 points.

The Fever were plus-four on the glass in the first 20 minutes.

Minnesota led by as many as nine in the third quarter before claiming the double-digit advantage in the final minutes of the fourth.

Veteran center Amanda Zahui B., acquired Tuesday from Washington in a trade for Queen Egbo, was not with the Fever Wednesday.

Minnesota evened the season series with Indiana at one win apiece. The Fever are set to host the Lynx on Aug. 10 and Sept. 10.

–Field Level Media

Breanna Stewart delivered a masterful 43-point performance to help the host New York Liberty hold off the pesky Phoenix Mercury for a 99-95 win on Wednesday night.

Stewart scored 14 of the final 16 points for New York, which led 73-53 in the third quarter before a pair of Kayla Thornton flagrant fouls opened the door for a Phoenix comeback. The Mercury ended up taking a 94-92 lead on Michaela Onyenwere’s layup with 1:51 left in the game.

Jonquel Jones responded on the other end to even things at 94, and the Liberty took the lead for good at 96-94 on Stewart’s layup that allowed her to secure her second 40-point game of the season.

After Onyenwere split a pair of free throws to keep New York ahead 96-95, Stewart drained a runner in traffic on the other end to give the Liberty a three-point cushion with 18.1 seconds left.

Jones secured a crucial rebound following Shey Peddy’s miss, and Stewart’s ensuing free throw with 3.1 seconds remaining sealed the victory.

Stewart went 13-for-20 from the floor and 14-for-16 from the free-throw line. Betnijah Laney added 14 points for New York (12-4).

Diana Taurasi led Phoenix (3-13) with 23 points, going 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Brittney Griner poured in 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Onyenwere contributed 19 points off the bench.

After Moriah Jefferson had opened the scoring with a 3-pointer that gave Phoenix its only lead of the first half, Sabrina Ionescu hit New York’s first triple, Stewart canned two more and Thornton added another as the Liberty’s lead swelled to 25-11 just under eight minutes into the game.

Stewart’s 11 points propelled New York to a 26-13 lead after the first quarter.

Phoenix settled in and scored the first 10 points of the second quarter to pull within three on Taurasi’s trey with 7:26 left. The Mercury went on to have a 33-point frame, but New York still managed to go into the break leading 53-46 behind 19 points from Stewart.

The Liberty opened the third quarter on a 20-7 run, going up 73-53 when Ionescu drained a 3-pointer with 4:46 to go until the fourth.

–Field Level Media