Professional women's basketball league Athletes Unlimited coming to Nashville in 2025

Professional women’s basketball league Athletes Unlimited coming to Nashville in 2025

Posted by Admin September 9, 2024 Basketball

Professional women’s basketball is coming to Nashville.

Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball’s fourth annual season will be at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium in 2025. The league will take place from Feb. 5 to March 2.

AU Pro Basketball was the first winter women’s professional basketball league in the United States when it launched in 2021. Several WNBA players immediately joined because the league gave them a chance to stay closer to home and enjoy more of an offseason than playing overseas typically does.

The debut season in Nashville will consist of 24 games, and 40 players will make up the roster. Full schedule information will be released at a later date.

“Being able to go to a space with such a rich basketball history and foundation there already, we are excited to embrace that,” Megan Perry, director of Basketball for Athletes Unlimited, said.

What to know about AU Pro Basketball

Athletes Unlimited debuted in 2022. Natasha Cloud, Courtney Williams, Odyssey Sims and Jantel Lavender were among the WNBA players who participated in the inaugural season. All-Star Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Brown and Allisha Gray are among the long list of WNBA players who have since joined the league.

While the league has similar five-on-five principles, AU prides itself on being led by the players. In the AU format, teams in the 40-player league will change weekly. Players will be redrafted to one of the four teams. Athletes can earn individual points through wins, making big plays and being selected as a top-three MVP candidate after performances.

The top four players from each week will draft their new teams. The player at the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of the month-long league will be crowned champion.

Gray won the 2024 championship; current Indiana Fever forward NaLyssa Smith won in 2023; and former Washington Mystics forward Tianna Hawkins was crowned champion in 2022.

Local flavor

Former Tennessee Lady Vols star Isabelle Harrison is a notable WNBA player from Nashville, but there are several others with ties to the state and bordering areas. Six former Lady Vols are in the WNBA. Current Las Vegas Aces forward and reigning Sixth Player of the Year Alysha Clark also is from Mount Juliet. She attended Belmont before transferring to Middle Tennessee State and becoming a second-round pick in 2010.

The AU basketball roster is expected to be finalized at a later date, but former Lady Vols players, and players from the Memphis and Nashville areas are expected to get consideration. Fans should expect some players with Tennessee ties, Perry said.

“Not only is our goal to put the best product on the floor but also thinking about continuing to grow our fan base,” Perry said. “Absolutely at the top of the line is welcoming some of the players the people in the Tennessee region are familiar with. We are absolutely focused on bringing in names and talent that we know Tennessee fans will be familiar with.”

WNBA to Nashville?

Deana Ivey, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation, said bringing AU Pro Basketball to Nashville had been in the works for months, and getting a women’s professional basketball team has been discussed for years.

The WNBA plans to expand to 16 teams by the year 2028, and league commissioner Cathy Engelbert has mentioned Nashville multiple times as a potential destination. AU’s league could serve as an audition in terms of how the city responds to professional basketball.

“I think hosting this tournament will put us on the radar as a potential WNBA city, which is very exciting,” Ivey said. “We’ve thought about it for a while. Booking this can help us with that next step.”

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.