NASHVILLE, TN — The fifth season of Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball closed out the league’s most successful season to date in Nashville Sunday. Odyssey Sims, Natasha Mack, and Kaitlyn Chen were each honored at the post-Championship game ceremony.
Sunday’s matches resulted in a 91-87 win for Team Rhythm over Team Eclipse, and a 97-86 Championship win for Team Cold Rush over Team Glow. The day’s events also included awards and a special retirement announcement for a WNBA and Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball veteran.
Odyssey Sims named 2026 Champion
Sims, a five-year veteran of the league, achieved her biggest goal when she was crowned 2026 Champion this weekend.
Sims moved to the top of the leaderboard during week two and never looked back, often racking up double digit performances no matter what team she was on each week. In week 4 she posted a career-high 44-point game, and ended Sunday’s final match with 30 points.
She ultimately finished season five with 6,764 leaderboard points, which had Sims at a full 1,420 points ahead of Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball rookie Aneesah Morrow.
Sims was ebullient while speaking to reporters following the game. After acknowledging that she felt “amazing,” she explained that her five years in the league contributed to her dominance on the floor.
The Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball format isn’t “always the easiest,” she said, “so a lot of [her win] ties into” having that experience. “When you switch teams, it makes everything a little bit harder, because you can go from playing to not playing, to [being] a role player to a main player, you just never know.”
Success with Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball comes from “being able to adjust to every situation,” Sims added. “I mean, I’ve gotten the hang of it because this is year five for me.”
“I don’t know, man,” she grinned. “I really ain’t go no words besides I’m just happy, like… I finally did it. This means more to me than anything else right now.”
In addition to Sims, Morrow, Tina Charles, and Rebekah Gardner were honored for their leaderboard performances. Gardner and Morrow were also named to the 2026 All-Defensive Team alongside Kiah Stokes and Jaylyn Sherrod.
Being healthy enough to play all the games was “the most impressive” part of her rookie season with Athletes Unlimited, Charles told reporters following the day’s games. “And then just getting to know this group of women, just having fun with them on our off days, that was everything for me.”
Natasha Mack, Jacy Sheldon, and Kaitlyn Chen take home honors
Mack, who averaged a league-best 12.7 rebounds and 35 blocks during her first season with Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball, was named Defensive Player of the Year.
“It’s a great feeling to be honored with this award,” said Mack following the final game. “Not everyone wants to be a defensive player in this sport, so I tried to find ways to help impact my team and I believe I did that well. This season was fun, I can’t wait to run it back.”
Chen, who ranked second in the league with 59 assists over 12 games and averaged 14.8 points per game, was named Newcomer of the Year.
“It’s a really special honor for me,” Chen told the crowd. “This group of newcomers was really strong, so it means a lot to come away with this award.”
Sheldon, who also made her debut in the league this season, was the recipient of the 2026 Impact Award.
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Sequoia Holmes announces her retirement
Holmes, who began her career in the WNBA in 2008, announced her retirement from professional basketball following the conclusion of Sunday’s Championship match. Holmes was a major part of Team Rhythm’s win over Team Eclipse, and averaged 4.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in 36 career games in Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball.
“From day one, from the first call I had with Lexie [Brown] and the second and third and fourth calls I had with Sydney [Colson] about coming out and playing at AU, the experience has been amazing,” Holmes told the crowd in Nashville. “Y’all have been just a family to me when I didn’t really feel like other places wanted me to be there. So for AU to call and say, hey, Sequoia, you bring such a different dynamic to basketball, and we need you here, made me feel like it was all worth it.”
Athletes Unlimited veteran Alysha Clark also commented on Holmes’ retirement following the game. “It was special,” she said. “Anytime you get the opportunity to walk away on your own will, I think is a blessing. And so for Quoia, who’s been such a positive light with every player she’s been around throughout the course of her career, not even just here, just over the years, it’s just a testament to who she is.”
“And so for her to be able to come here and to be able to walk away from the game, on her own terms, I think is amazing. And just to be celebrated for everything that she means, not only on the court but off the court as well, was really cool,” Clark added.
“And, you know, it hits close to us,” she said before gesturing to herself and Charles. “We’re all, you know, for both of us, we’re in the latter part of our career. And so just to be able to celebrate someone else who’s in that same space was really cool.”
Athletes Unlimited celebrates its most successsful season yet
The fifth season has been dominated by a consistent narrative: this has been the league’s most successful outing to date. The league has experienced the highest attendance and viewership numbers in its history, and also pulled in its strongest roster yet.
That success was top of mind for nearly everyone following the conclusion of Sunday’s Championship match. “The way this city has embraced us in our second year here in Nashville, we wanted to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to our business partners and our broadcast partners,” Vice President of Basketball Megan Perry told the crowd.
“The way we work together in a collateral effort to elevate and showcase the best of professional women’s basketball has to offer — we are extremel proud of that,” she added before addressing the crowd more specifically. “And we thank you for being here to uplift us and celebrate with us, together.”
“We are player-led,” Perry later said. “Everything, going down to our format, what we need to do, what you see our players wearing, and what they’re doing.”
Charles, Sims, and Clark also touched on the growth Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball’s fifth season brought to the league. Part of the fun of the league is “just having fun,” Charles said. “I think that’s the word — [we’ve] just been having fun. It’s been fun, practices have been great.”
“Just being able to come out here and not have to think and just to be able to play, play to your instincts and work on things in real time, that maybe we don’t always get the opportunity to do, it’s just basketball,” Clark agreed. “I think having that opportunity to just come out here, play freely, and have fun while doing it, and making an impact off the court, I think is really special, and that’s what makes AU so special, is it’s just the overall package of it, of everything.”
The transition from Dallas, where the league’s fist three season took place, to Nashville has been “amazing,” Sims told reporters, “to say the least, for these last two years in Nashville.”
The move resulted in a “big jump,” she added. “I know we have more attendance than we did last year. I know we had more season ticket holders than we did last year. It’s a great place to be … the growth that you have shown over these past five years, and really these last two, having it in Nashville, has been very, very successful.”