Angel Reese was living her best life under the Unrivaled banner last year. From workouts and saunas to daily meals and facials, she couldn’t stop gushing about the perks, proudly sharing, “Yeah, I love it here😭💓 @Unrivaledwbb.” With Caitlin Clark still opting out, Reese seemed destined to be the league’s face. But in a surprising twist, her name is missing from Unrivaled’s newly announced roster for the upcoming season, prompting league-wide analysis.

Rachel DeMita believes Angel Reese’s decision might trace back to her heated run-in with officials last season. Speaking on the Courtside Club, DeMita recalled the moment, saying, “Now, I do remember, and this is just speculation, but I do remember Angel Reese tweeting at the end of the Unrivaled season saying like, ‘I can’t wait to get back to Chicago.’ And I remember thinking like, ‘Oh, that’s strange.’”

The Analyst then continued, saying, “I also believe that came after the game, where she was ejected. Like, she got a couple of fouls. And I think she was just fed up at that point.” DeMita’s remarks might be mere speculation that Reese’s frustrations with officiating may have played a quiet role in her decision, but a matter of fact is, referees are a problem everywhere. Be it the WNBA, the NBA, or the Unrivaled.

Reese was the first and only player to be ejected in season 1 of Unrivaled. She was guarding Tiffany Hayes in that Laces matchup and was called for a foul. Reese seemed to gesture towards Hayes to get up, which earned her a technical. She was even more furious at the referees after that decision, leading to a second technical and ejection. “Ejection in Unrivaled? REFS ARE OUT OF THEIR MINDDDDDD🫠,” Reese’s teammate Michael Onyewere wrote, to which Reese replied, “Can’t wait to get back to Chicago, mannn.”

That night, Reese scored six points, 15 rebounds, but eleven minutes before this exchange, a fan posted a video of Reese chatting away from the court after her ejection. Reese reposted the video with the caption: “free me.” That wasn’t the only controversy around the referees, as Courtney Williams’ 1v1 match-up against Rhyne Howard also drew some harsh critiques from fans.

It’s not confirmed that this played a part in Reese’s offseason decision, but it’s definitely something to note. There could be a host of other reasons why Reese avoided offseason basketball. 

The Chi-town Barbie struggled through a back injury for much of the 2025 WNBA season. In the league’s longest regular season to date, the All-Star forward was limited to 30 games. Reese also has a lot of commitments away from basketball, like her recent Victoria’s Secret walk. She revealed her plans on her podcast, which include a possible world tour to promote her new kicks. While Reese rests and heals up for the next WNBA season, Unrivaled is hit heavily with a star exodus for its upcoming season. 

Unrivaled Star Drain as Angel Reese Leads Season 2 Exits

Unrivaled Season 1 was a huge success. It averaged 221,000 viewers across the regular season and playoffs on games simulcast on TNT and truTV. Its most-watched game was the one-on-one tournament final between Napheesa Collier and Aaliyah Edwards that averaged 377,000 viewers. The championship game drew 364,000 viewers. The social media impressions rolled in, coupled with modest crowds.

However, for a sustainable league, you need to continue that momentum over multiple seasons. And their season two is already draining stars. DiJonai Carrington will miss the entire 2026 season due to ongoing recovery from a foot injury sustained during the WNBA season. Like we discussed, Reese is not returning for round 2, along with Sabrina Ionescu. The league also failed to sign Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson, arguably two of the most popular WNBA players. 

“They still don’t have Caitlin Clark. They now don’t have Angel Reese, they don’t have Sabrina, they don’t have A’ja Wilson. So, there’s still a lot of big names that I feel like if they had these big names, obviously, Caitlin being the biggest, there would be more of a draw for Unrivaled. So, I’m also interested to see how the league does this season, how viewership is, and how the basketball is on the court,” Rachel DeMita said. 

It is not that the league didn’t try. Caitlin Clark was presented with an interesting proposition by Alex Bazell. In her return from injury, Unrivaled’s 3v3 was a soft launch to a return to competitive basketball. However, Clark only said, “There’s some USA Basketball stuff that is probably my top priority right now that I need to prepare for.” The most popular draw in the league is probably Paige Bueckers, but the loss of these multiple stars puts some doubt regarding its season 2 ratings.