Amidst a breakout season in the WNBA, Jessica Shepard has garnered the interest of other professional basketball leagues.
For the first time, Shepard will play in Unrivaled during this upcoming offseason. The 3-on-3 women’s basketball league announced Wednesday, June 8 that they signed Shepard to a multi-year deal, a week after she was named as a starter in the WNBA All-Star game for the first time ever.
Shepard has previously spent her offseasons playing in Europe, most recently for clubs in Greece and Italy. She was named All-EuroLeague Second Team this past spring and in 2025 was the All-Greek A1 Player of the Year.
“I am really excited to be joining Unrivaled for the coming seasons. I’ve heard nothing but great things since the league started,” Shepard said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to competing and playing with the best players in the world in a different setting, as well as developing my game.”
The 29-year-old 6-foot-4 forward is enjoying her best season yet in the WNBA, having found what seems to be the perfect fit for her skillset with Jose Fernandez’s Dallas Wings. After spending the previous five seasons with the Minnesota Lynx, Shepard signed a two-year deal worth just north of $2 million with the Wings this past offseason.
She’s averaging career-highs in points (14.6), rebounds (11.5) and assists (5.3) per game while shooting 58.9% from the floor and 72.2% from the free throw line. She’s second in the WNBA in rebounding, 10th in assists, eighth in assist-turnover ratio (2.85), third in defensive rebounding percentage (31.4), first in win shares (3.9) and fifth in Her Hoop Stats offensive rating.
In an 88-77 win on Tuesday night at the New York Liberty, Shepard notched her third triple-double of the season with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Three of her four career triple-doubles have come this season while playing for Fernandez, and Shepard is the only player in the league this season to have a triple-double.
A product of Notre Dame, where she won a national championship in 2018 alongside current Wings teammate Arike Ogunbowale, Shepard was the 16th overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft.
Shepard joins Olivia Miles, Gabby Williams, Flau’Jae Johnson, Bridget Carleton, Marine Johannés, Kayla Thornton and Kayla McBride on the list of the latest Unrivaled signees for 2027. The team Shepard will play for will be determined at a later date.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessica Shepard is latest WNBA star to sign multi-year deal with Unrivaled
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