Paige Bueckers stormed off the court during her 1-on-1 Unrivaled battle with Chelsea Gray.
Bueckers suffered an 11-2 defeat to four-time WNBA champion Gray — a contest which saw the winning points come from free throw attempts.
From the jump, the seasoned veteran controlled the tempo of the Unrivaled contest, and combined her strength in the post and her footwork to put the Dallas Wings All-Star into uncomfortable positions on defense.
This was unfamiliar territory for Bueckers, who is notorious for her calmness and composure when on the court, which allows her to get into shot-making rhythm with relative ease.
The 24-year-old finished the contest going 1-of-6 from the field for a lowly 16.7 percent, which was largely in part because of Gray’s relentlessness in pressuring the Breeze rookie on defense.
Following the loss, the visibly frustrated guard quickly gave her opponent a congratulatory handshake before heading straight down the tunnel into the locker room.
Early exit for the No. 1 seed
Entering the 1-on-1 tournament, Bueckers, who invested in Unrivaled while still a collegiate athlete at UConn, ranked as the No. 1 seed.
She comfortably dispatched Golden State Valkyries star and Breeze BC teammate Kate Martin in the first round with a 12-5 victory.
In the second round, despite being 4-0 down to start the match-up, Bueckers rallied back and shut out Wing teammate Arike Ogunbowale 12-4, securing her place in the quarterfinals.
Gray’s road through the bracket has been slightly more difficult, narrowly defeating Natasha Cloud 11-10 in the first round, before defeating her Las Vegas Aces backcourt partner Jackie Young 12-6 in the second round.
The 33-year-old will now take on another one of her former teammates in Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum, with the victor going on to compete for a chance to win the $200k prize.
The winner of the matchup between Allisha Gray and Aliyah Boston will stand in the way of either Gray or Plum securing that prize.
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Gauntlet thrown to the NBA
Unrivaled has been a huge success for women’s basketball, with the 3-on-3 league making an estimated $27 million in revenue in its inaugural season in 2025.
With the 1-on-1 tournament occurring during the same time as the 2026 NBA All-Star weekend, some fans have suggest the NBA to somewhat follow in Unrivaled’s footsteps.
“Destroyed or not, gotta give it up to Paige for going out there and getting in the mud simply to push the sport,” one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Not too many NBA stars players would sign up to play 1-on-1. Let alone participate in any off-season leagues.”
“Unrivaled 1 on 1s is better than the entire nba all star weekend if we’re being honest,” another posted.
“Yo @KDTrey5 if you wondering how to fix all star weekend, this is it,” one fan posted under a video of Plum’s 11-0 shutout against Natisha Hiedeman in their 1-on-1 bout, tagging 16-time All-Star Kevin Durant.
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The NBA All-Star game used to be a physical contest with the league’s biggest stars all on the court at the same time.
Now, many players, media personnel and fans are of the belief that the entire weekend is now simply broken beyond repair.
Gone are the days of competitive intensity, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, with players now prioritizing emerging on the other size of the final buzzer unscathed from injury.
The contest therefore becomes a glorified shoot-around.
“You know why it’s so competitive? Because they are playing for 200K top prize. To understand what this number means to them, the maximum “super max” salary in the WNBA is 240K. Make a 1 on 1 NBA tournament with top prize even being 10 million and see what happens,” added another fan.
“The ladies deserve all the praise for doing 1s like this and the men should be ashamed of themselves for being too chicken to give the people what they want,” a viewer posted.
The weekend’s other offerings of the Skills Contest, Dunk Contest and Three-Point Contest are now preferred by the fans over the game itself as a result.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has attempted to combat this by evolving the format of the Sunday night game over recent years, though to no avail.
Perhaps they should take a look at what women’s basketball is doing to attract interest before the whole weekend becomes so farcical that earning All-Star honors becomes devoid of meaning.
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