Unrivaled Basketball League finally began on Friday without Caitlin Clark in sight, as the WNBA Rookie of the Year stuck to her word about taking time away from the game

Ahead of the opening week of the upstart 3-on-3 league, Unrivaled, many WNBA players who are participating spoke up about the issue of stalking.

There's no doubt Clark's presence would have been a boon for the startup Unrivaled league. In her first season with the Fever, WNBA broadcasts featuring Clark averaged 1.19 million viewers, per Nielsen. Games without Clark averaged 394,000.

The Unrivaled Basketball League is set to get underway on Friday, but fans will not be able to see the WNBA's reigning Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark in action in the 3v3 tournament

Along with being one of the WNBA's top stars, Napheesa Collier has worked diligently behind the scenes to build her own venture.

WNBA players no longer have to play for Russian oligarchs. Instead, they wisely harnessed capitalism to create their own offseason Unrivaled league.

The Unrivaled Basketball League is set to begin on Friday, but fans won't see Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark in action.

On the eve of its debut, Unrivaled held a security meeting with its players about their safety. In the past few months, three separate cyber-stalking cases have gone public with women's basketball players in college and the WNBA.