Ranking Unrivaled's top 5 players of 2026: Where does Chelsea Gray fall?

Fifty-four of the best players in women's basketball have descended upon Miami for the second season ofUnrivaled, which tipped off last week with record-breaking performances and dramatic game-winners.

Rose BC hung their inaugural championship banner in the rafters of Sephora Arena on opening night and the defending champs look like the team to beat.Chelsea Gray, the 2025 Unrivaled Finals MVP, has powered Rose to an impressive 3-0 record with a blistering start that included 35 points on opening night.

It goes without saying that Gray is among the best players in the league. Here's the top five players in Unrivaled's 3-on-3 women's basketball league so far this season:

UNRIVALED SCHEDULE:Game times, TV for 3-on-3 women's basketball league

1. Chelsea Gray, Rose BC

Gray is off to an unreal start in her second season at Unrivaled. She opened Rose BC's title defense with a 35-point, 8-assist performance in a win over Lunar Owls BC and that was just the start of her brilliance. She followed up the season opener with 23 points against Vinyl and 37 points against Breeze BC, shooting 7-of-9 from the 3-point line. Gray leads the league in points (31.7 per game) and 3-pointers (5.3 per game) and ranks top 4 in the league in minutes (21.8), assists (5.7), game-winners (2) and steals (1.7). Rose BC (3-0) has benefited from Gray's play and is the only undefeated team remaining. Gray may come down to Earth at some point, but hopefully not anytime soon for the fans' sake.

2. Aaliyah Edwards, Lunar Owls BC

Edwards showed how dangerous she is after her runner-up finish in Unrivaled's inaugural 1-on-1 tournament last season, second to Napheesa Collier. Edwards was drafted by the Lunar Owls following a season with the Mist. Even though Collier is out for the season due to injury, she's been working closely with Edwards on her game and it's showing. Edwards opened the season with three-consecutive double-doubles, including a 38-point, 13-rebound performance against Vinyl on Jan. 12. She leads the league averaging 12 rebounds per game and her 24.7 points ranked third-highest in the league. Edwards' efforts haven't necessarily resulted in wins as the Lunar Owls (0-3), but the addition of Skylar Diggins should give the team an instant boost.

Honorable mention:Edwards' teammate Marina Mabrey was sidelined all but three games last season due to injury, but she's come back with a vengeance. Mabrey is averaging 27.0 points per game, second best in the league. She leads the league in assists (7.3) and ranks third in 3-pointers made (3.3).

3 consecutive double doubles for AE 🔥🧵pic.twitter.com/VGFTJNtx1K

— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb)January 13, 2026

3. Kelsey Plum, Phantom BC

Plum was set to participate in the inaugural 2025 Unrivaled season, but she ultimately withdrew to focus on her overall health. So far, she's making the most of Season Two. Plum nearly recorded a triple-double with38 points, 11 assists and eight pointson Jan. 10 in Phantom's first win of the season. Plum followed that performance with a game-winning jumper to lift Phantom over Mist to improve to 2-1. Plum is averaging 22.7 points, the fifth most in the league through three games. She's also top five in the league in assists (5.7), 3-pointers made (2.7) and game-winners (1).

Unrivaled recap: Kelsey Plum game-winner lifts Phantom over Misthttps://t.co/MYLfXW4KtD

— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports)January 13, 2026

4. Brittney Sykes, Laces BC

Sykes was a member of Rose BC's inaugural Unrivaled championship squad and that experience has traveled with her to the Laces. Sykes leads the Laces in scoring with 24.3 points per game, which ranks fourth in Unrivaled, and averages three 3-pointers per game, fourth-best in the league. She's not just getting it done on the offensive end of the ball. Sykes is averaging a league-high three steals per game and had five steals, seven rebounds and 25 points in the Laces' win over the Lunar Owls in on Jan. 12.

Slim didn't come to play!! 😤 No wonder she's our@MillerLitePlayer of the Game!@BrittBundlezpic.twitter.com/j8ghUDJtjG

— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb)January 13, 2026

5. Dearica Hamby, Vinyl

Hamby is coming off her best WNBA season, where she set career highs in points (18.4) and field-goal percentage (57.2) with the Los Angeles Sparks. That momentum has carried over to Unrivaled. Hamby recorded the league's first 40-point game in Vinyl's win over Hive BC on Jan. 11, finishing with 40 points and 10 rebounds. She is averaging 10.7 rebounds per game, second best in the league.

SETTING RECORDS 💿@dearicamarierecorded the most points in a single game with a 40 piece!pic.twitter.com/pj4tUBK0yI

— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb)January 12, 2026

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Let's rank the top 5 Unrivaled players of 2026: Who's No. 1

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1/17/2026 10:04:00 AM

Ranking Unrivaled's top 5 players of 2026: Where does Chelsea Gray fall?

Fifty-four of the best players in women's basketball have descended upon Miami for the second season ofUnrivaled, whi...

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Mexican president highlights 'compelling results' in crackdown of cartels in face of Trump threats

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that efforts to crack down on Mexican cartels and slow migration north were showing "compelling results" in an effort to head off intervention talk by the Trump administration.

The comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that U.S. forces "will now start hitting land" in Mexico targeting drug cartels, after the dramaticUnited States military raid on Venezuelathat deposed then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Sheinbaum, a leftist who boasts of taking on chaos with a "cool head," has sought to placate Trump and, unlike Maduro, has worked to build out a strong relationship between the Mexican and U.S. governments. The early January raid in Venezuelaset much of Latin America on edge, fueling concern that Trump could soon turn American forces on other nations, particularlyCuba and Mexico.

On Thursday night, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente released a joint statement after a phone call, saying they agreed "more must be done to confront shared threats."

Sheinbaum, mentioning the call on Friday in her morning press briefing, said that Mexico's government had made significant progress cracking down on cartels, citing a steepdrop in the homicide rate, much lower fentanyl seizures by U.S. authorities at the border and sparse migration. She noted it was a joint effort with the U.S.

"There are very compelling results from the joint cooperation and the work that Mexico has been doing," she said.

She reiterated her call for the United States to stop arms trafficking into Mexico and highlighted drug use in the U.S. as a key factor fueling cartel violence in Mexico.

"The other side also has to do its part. This consumption crisis they have over there also has to be addressed from a public health perspective, through education campaigns," she said.

Sheinbaum and Trump also spoke by phone Monday. Sheinbaum said she again told Trump that U.S. intervention in Mexico was unnecessary.

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1/17/2026 09:32:00 AM

Mexican president highlights 'compelling results' in crackdown of cartels in face of Trump threats

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that efforts to crack down on Mexican cartels and slow...

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ICE protestors asked to walk a tightrope between conflict and peace

Protestors who want to speak out aboutthe fatal shooting of Renee Goodface a barrage of conflicting directives from authorities.

Minnesota Gov.Tim Walzencouraged protestors to record federal immigration authorities: "Help us establish a record of exactly what's happening in our communities,"Walz said in an appeal to his state's residents.

But the Trump administration has framedgroups that monitor and track ICEas improperly keeping the agency from completing immigration removals.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlinhas saidposting photos and videos of ICE agents online is "doxxing" and threatened to "prosecute those who illegally harass ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law."

"Gov. Walz is encouraging obstruction to federal law enforcement which is a federal crime and felony," McLaughlin told USA TODAY. "He is putting his own constituents in potentially dangerous and criminal situations."

And Republican Minnesota state Rep. Harry Niska slammed Walz, saying the governor "has fueled fear and anger by falsely claiming Minnesota is'at war'with the federal government,'under attack'by ICE, and by smearing federal agents as the'modern-day Gestapo.'"

Officers have deployed gas and shot rubber bullets, a tense situation that has left demonstrators in "a very difficult position," Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America's Voice, told USA TODAY.

"Americans from all walks of life are kind of walking, navigating this moment, trying to just really express their rejection to what we're seeing play out in our communities and also trying to be safe," Cárdenas said. "But point being is like, no one's safe, right?"

Both Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Walz have called for calm, with Walz appealing directly to Trump and asking to "turn the temperature down."

"We can - we must - speak out loudly, urgently, but also peacefully," he said in astatement to Minnesotans. "We cannot fan the flames of chaos. That's what he wants."

A federal agent shot a person in the leg in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 14 after being assaulted during an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said, sparking further protests in a city on edge after the deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent earlier this month.

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Second shooting incident in Minneapolis amid ICE protests. See the scene

A federal agentshot a person in the leg in Minneapolison Wednesday, Jan. 14 after being assaulted during an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said, sparking further protests in a city on edge after the deadly shooting ofRenee Nicole Goodby an ICE agent earlier this month.

Do protestors have a right to film federal agents?

Americans havea First Amendment right to observe and record law enforcement, including ICE, while they are doing their jobs publicly, according to several First Amendment organizations.

But there are also clear legal limits.

"You can't stop federal officers from doing their lawful duties and it's truly not up to individual neighbors to decide whether what ICE is doing is lawful," said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. "In other words, unless there's a court order saying 'ICE get out of Minnesota' or 'get out of Minneapolis,' they're allowed to be there. They're allowed to enforce federal law."

Filming law enforcement officers has become more commonplace with the rise of smartphones and after a bystander recorded the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in 2020.

MinneapolisCity Council President Elliott Payne,who himself wasshoved by an officer while monitoring ICE operations, has also urged people tojoin Defend the 612, which helps connect people in the Minneapolis area code with the hundreds of small neighborhood groups involved in rapid response, school protection patrols and community aid planning.

'No one can guarantee' protests will be peaceful

Cárdenas, of America's Voice, said that local organizers and leaders have repeatedly stressed that protests need to be peaceful and to not intervene, but violence is not entirely preventable.

"It's also a reality that sometimes that happens because you have different circumstances and you might have some bad actors that are embedded into this protest," she said. "No one can guarantee that violence is not going to happen."

That's in part because there is no centralized group running the protests that can appeal to protesters to stay nonviolent, according to Sidney Tarrow, an emeritus professor of political science at Cornell University who studies social movements.

The mass protests that occurred across the country in 2025were organized by a coalition of large national left-leaning groups, such as Indivisible, but were implemented and held by local activists. Those protests, which occurred in thousands of cities across the country and involved millions of people,remained nearly violence-free.

No such group is playing a role in these protests. ICE Watch, which the Trump administration has repeatedly blamed as the mastermind, is a training program that teaches best practices of how to protest ICE without interfering in the arrests. Not everyone protesting has undergone the trainings.

In Minneapolis, protests have started from loosely organized Facebook groups and Signal chats sharing where ICE agents are and what vehicles they are driving, but like in other major cities across the country, there isn't a cadre of people in charge directing the actions.

Tarrow said it's remarkable that the demonstrations have remained as peaceful as they have for so long.

"Normally one would expect there to be sporadic, scattered outbreaks of violence from people who see themselves as part of the movement and are so outraged by the behavior of the government that they cannot hold themselves back from engaging in violence," he said. "There's also the very strong possibility that the violent behavior of some of the ICE agents will trigger violence or will be interpreted as violence on the part of the protesters. So far, we haven't seen that."

Contributing:Cate Charron, USA TODAY NETWORK

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:ICE protestors on a tightrope between conflict and peace

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1/17/2026 09:32:00 AM

ICE protestors asked to walk a tightrope between conflict and peace

Protestors who want to speak out aboutthe fatal shooting of Renee Goodface a barrage of conflicting directives from autho...

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Charlie Kirk shooting suspect seeks to disqualify Utah County Attorney's Office from case

The man accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event last September returns to court on Friday as his defense attorneys seek to disqualify prosecutors in the case over an alleged conflict of interest.

Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA while he was speaking to a crowd at an event. He has not yet entered a plea in the case, and prosecutors with the Utah County Attorney's Office are seeking the death penalty.

Defense lawyers, however, allege that the Utah County Attorney's Office has a conflict of interest because the child of one of its prosecutors was at the Utah Valley University event.

The family member was allegedly within 85 feet of Kirk, and law enforcement was deployed to the area to keep her safe, according to Robinson's attorneys during an Oct. 24 hearing.

The Utah County Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The transcript from the Oct. 24 hearing waspreviously sealed,but was released with redactions in December after Utah District Court Judge Tony Graf ruled that the public had the right to access it.

The attorneys are expected to argue their case in Utah court on Friday afternoon, where Robinson is expected to appear.

Attorneys for Robinson have also filed a motion to permit Robinson to appear in court hearings in regular clothing, without restraints. The motion also argued to "eliminate all video and audio broadcasting or delayed feeds of court proceedings," because attorneys fear this will affect the fairness of the trial, according to the Oct. 24 hearing.

Kirk's widow, Erica,called for full transparencyand said the public deserves cameras throughout the case.

Robinson appeared in court for the first time on Dec. 11, shackled at the waist, wrists, and ankles, and wearing a dress shirt, tie, and slacks.

Prosecutors allege that Robinson targeted Kirk for his political views, and the 22-year-old's family said that he had been increasingly concerned about LGBTQ rights, accordingto an indictment filed in September.

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1/17/2026 09:32:00 AM

Charlie Kirk shooting suspect seeks to disqualify Utah County Attorney's Office from case

The man accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event last September returns to court on Friday as his defense...

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He almost died in a car accident. Now he's on the verge of a second Olympic medal.

As Colby Stevenson prepared for his run down a mountain in Switzerland on Thursday, his hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team hinged on this performance.

A strong showing in qualifying at the FIS Freeski World Cup would get him into the competition's finals two days later. And another big performance in that round might secure him a spot at his second consecutiveWinter Olympicsnext month in Livigno, Italy.

Many athletes in the same situation may have crumbled under the pressure. But Stevenson, 28, said he doesn't feel that anymore.

"I should be dead right now," he told NBC News. "I got nothing to lose."

Stevenson is referring to a car accident almost a decade ago that nearly killed him.

In May 2016, following a freeski event in Mount Hood, Oregon, Stevenson and a friend, John Michael Fabrizi, were driving nearly 500 miles home to Utah. Fabrizi had broken his leg at the event, forcing Stevenson to drive the entirety of the trip. Hours into the excursion, exhausted and eyes growing heavy, he considered stopping at a hotel but decided to power through with their destination approaching.

Then his eyes closed.

His truck veered off the road in Idaho, flipping eight times with the roof caving in. Fabrizi, in the passenger seat, escaped with minor injuries. Stevenson's skull was shattered in more than 30 places and he suffered brain trauma. He was placed in a medically induced coma for five days.

"I was very close to bleeding out," Stevenson said. "I'm in the 1% of people with that type of skull fracture and no permanent brain damage."

He was lucky, but his road to recovery was long. The 6-foot-1 Stevenson said he lost all of his muscle mass from the two weeks he was in the hospital, dropping to 139 pounds. His neck muscles atrophied and, for months, he couldn't sit at a table and eat without it hurting.

Stevenson's brain injury also led to a sharp decline in memory and decision-making, he said. He developed vertigo and often got dizzy when he lay down.

"I went from being the most active kid doing all these different sports to then just bedridden for three months," he said. "My life was done. The life that I loved living so much felt like it was gone."

The mirror was also a constant reminder of how much his life changed. He said he would wake up each morning, see a huge scar across his forehead and scream out loud. He said he became heavily depressed and "would look in the mirror and wish I had died in the crash."

Early on, Stevenson was mostly aided by his mother, though she eventually needed to return to work. His grandmother then stepped in to help — and that's when his perspective started to change. She stayed with him for a few months and the two would play cards and go on short walks together around the neighborhood.

"Those things brought me so much joy when I was in my darkest times," Stevenson said. "I realized you don't need a lot to be happy."

After five months of rehab, feeling better both physically and mentally, he put skis back on for the first time. Even though he was supposed to take it easy, he did a double cork 1080, which involves two full flips and a spin, "to prove to myself that it was going to be all good."

Even at his lowest, Stevenson said, he never gave up the dream of being a competitive skier. That was most evident at a FIS World Cup slopestyle event in the Italian Alps in 2017. All the anxiety he previously experienced in competitions went out the door. He was back living life.

With his father looking on, he dominated his run and took first place.

"We couldn't really believe it," Stevenson said. "It was totally out of a fairy tale."

Stevenson began looking back on his accident as a positive and it showed in his skiing. In 2022, he made the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. Though he finished in seventh place in slopestyle, his main event, he surprised everyone in Big Air.

On the bus to the finals, Stevenson had a set plan of what trick he wanted to do. Then "Fly Like An Eagle" by Steve Miller Band shuffled into his headphones. Stevenson took it as a sign to take a bigger risk, and pivoted to a trick he had never attempted in a competition: a "nose butter" triple cork, 1620 Japan grab.

"I was just gonna do a Hail Mary in the Olympic final," he said.

Stevenson said he was too scared to do it in training and wanted to do it when it counted most, good or bad. He landed it perfectly on his second run, and followed it up with a switch double cork 1800 to take the silver medal.

Four years later, he's back, but the competition to make the U.S. team in Italy next month is stiff. Alex Hall and Troy Podmilsak have already qualified, and Mac Forehand — who won the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen, Colorado, last week — is all but assured a spot. The fourth and final opportunity is still up for grabs.

All of which led to this week's World Cup.

Stevenson needed a strong performance during qualifying in Switzerland to get into the finals, and that's exactly what he did Thursday by earning the top overall score in the competition. One more impressive performance Saturday could lock in an Olympic berth.

And while he's excelling on the skis, he's just as excited about life outside the slopes. Stevenson admitted he's become much more vulnerable with people and cares less about what others think these days. The little things he previously took for granted are now also being celebrated.

He credits the accident for this feeling.

"In these last nine years, I've lived the sickest life because of the mentality I learned from that accident. It just brought so much more love into my life," he said. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me."

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1/17/2026 08:04:00 AM

He almost died in a car accident. Now he's on the verge of a second Olympic medal.

As Colby Stevenson prepared for his run down a mountain in Switzerland on Thursday, his hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team hinged on thi...

Read More