While most focus on better contracts and competition, Kate Martin is trying to lure Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson to Unrivaled with a pitch they haven’t seriously considered before: a better lifestyle.

“I think my recruiting pitch would be, ‘Come be in the warm weather!’ Like, Miami, it’s lovely here,” Martin told Sports Illustrated. “We can go to the beach on the off days, chill, and have fun with it, too. I think that’s what this league is all about. It’s very serious, it’s player-driven. But it’s also a lot of fun… So I feel like it speaks for itself,” Martin explained when asked about her recruitment strategy for the two stars.

The substance of Martin’s pitch goes beyond Florida’s climate alone. Unrivaled has already shown that it is willing to pay top talent a lot of money. For example, it reportedly offered Clark a seven-figure contract with league equity, indicating that the platform aims to attract big names.

Martin’s suggestion also sums up what makes Unrivaled different from other off-season commitments: it strikes a balance between serious competition and player freedom, which is increasingly important to top athletes who need time to recover.

The Breeze BC star believes that Clark and Wilson would “thrive” with the demands of 3×3 basketball.

“Both of them. I mean, they’re two of the best players in the world,” Martin said. “You can’t really deny that. A’ja on the pick and roll would be amazing, and her midrange game would be lethal here.”

On the other hand, Clark could “spread the floor” and probably let her shots fly from half-court!

Wilson turned down Unrivaled twice because she cared more about her mental health than making seven figures. Clark also didn’t play because she needed time to recover. Both WNBA stars made the same choice: rest rather than get another paycheck. They don’t want to play in offseason tournaments. They want some space to breathe. That’s what makes Martin’s lifestyle pitch so interesting because she knows what they really want.

How Unrivaled actually started…

Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier saw women’s basketball players leave the US every offseason to chase paychecks overseas. They were done with it and didn’t want to complain, so they created their own league back home. What started as a casual dinner chat between two friends in New York City turned into a professional basketball business worth millions of dollars. Unrivaled wasn’t a corporate idea. It came from players who knew exactly what the game needed.

“We wanted to be able to keep people home and in market and really build their brands and work on their games,” Stewart recently explained.

The results spoke for themselves right away. Many big businesses signed up. TV networks worked out deals. People from all over the world saw it. Stewart only recently hit the game-winning shot for the Mist to open the second season and then flew to Las Vegas to accept an industry honor the next night.

Season 2 is bolder. There are more athletes. Expansion teams were introduced. Paige Bueckers showed up too. A few games are going to Philadelphia, outside the league’s primary base in Miami. This player-led initiative has sparked a revolution in women’s basketball, proving that athletes can control their own futures.