Las Vegas Aces player Chelsea Gray named MVP of Unrivaled League
By Doug Feinberg
The Associated Press
March 3, 2026 - 11:40 am
NEW YORK — The Unrivaled League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) was announced on Monday, and it's none other than Las Vegas Aces star guard Chelsea Gray. Gray, who plays for Rose BC, received the award before the semifinal games at the sold-out Barclays Center.
"I'm grateful for the recognition," Gray said. "I love the game and strive to be exceptional every night. Women's basketball is thriving, and it's evident by the enthusiastic crowd here tonight."
Gray's exceptional performance in the 1-on-1 tournament last month earned her the MVP title. She averaged an impressive 24.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists, breaking her own single-season assists record with 85 in just 14 games. Her outstanding play was showcased in nine games where she scored 20 or more points and 10 games with five or more assists. Additionally, she tied the league's single-game 3-pointers record with an impressive 10.
Another former Aces star, Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks, led the No. 1-seeded Phantom BC to the championship game with a 31-point performance, defeating Vinyl 83-75. Dearica Hamby, also a former Aces player and a Sparks member, led Vinyl with 30 points.
In the other semifinal, Arike Ogunbowale, celebrating her 29th birthday, hit a crucial 3-pointer to secure a 73-69 victory for the second-seeded Mist over Breeze.
The championship game will take place on Wednesday at Unrivaled's home arena in Miami, with the winning team claiming a substantial prize pool of $600,000, shared among its six players. The league's popularity continued to grow, as evidenced by the sold-out crowd of 18,261 at the Barclays Center, which included basketball legends like Carmelo Anthony and Sue Bird, as well as actors Ashton Kutcher and Jason Sudeikis, and gold medal-winning U.S. hockey player Hilary Knight.
