WNBA players embracing Unrivaled competitive atmosphere on opening weekend

Sabrina Ionescu and Kayla McBride’s Unrivaled debuts Saturday were the first time they played a competitive basketball game since the WNBA Finals. It has been almost three months since the Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx in overtime to claim the franchise’s first title.But McBride still feels jabs of heartbreak when she thinks about losing that series. When she learned her Laces squad was opening its season against Ionescu’s Phantoms, she thought about the last time the two played. “I’m not gonna lie and say that didn’t cross my mind,” McBride said.

“But we’re here now … and that competitive energy never turns off.” McBride got some semblance of revenge, leading the Laces to an 86-48 win against the Phantom. After suffering defeat, Phantom coach Adam Harrington clenched his jaw as he passed Laces coach Andrew Wade.Within an hour, Harrington had received texts from half his team about when they can meet Sunday to practice and regroup before Monday’s game against the Mist. “We’re all competitive,” Harrington said.

“I don’t like the result that just happened so you immediately go to, like, ‘What I can do to help them get better?’” For the past week, players talked about the summer camp-like atmosphere at Unrivaled.The setup of the facility — which includes a fully outfitted recovery room, weight room and glam room — makes it easy for players to mingle with those on opposing teams. But now that games have started, the competitive traits that made them the stars they are have started to come out. That was clear during the league’s opening weekend.

Trash talk was being spewed on the court.On Saturday, two players were slapped with technical fouls for arguing with officials. “It’s competitive,” McBride said.

“The WNBA is already competitive so it’s kind of even a more locked-in version of that because there’s only 36 of us here … there’s still internal rivalries whether it’s from teams or from in...