In early 2025, reports emerged of a new international basketball league that was seeking to raise billions of dollars and take on the NBA for global supremacy. LeBron James’s business partner Maverick Carter was advising the league behind the scenes, though Front Office Sports reported James himself was not involved.
That league, which was calling itself Project B in stealth and is still using that name now, originally planned to launch in fall 2026 with men’s and women’s 5-on-5 basketball, but has since pushed back its start date to December.
As of September 2026, Project B has announced more than a dozen women’s players, but no men have yet to be announced. The league will not say how much money it has raised.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Carter told Front Office Sports in October that he’s no longer involved and “stepped away months ago.” In March, league cofounder Grady Burnett told The Athletic Carter is once again working with Project B, but Carter’s spokesperson told FOS he still has no formal role.
Many of the women’s players it has signed so far are big names getting big salaries that could shake up women’s basketball across the globe. Project B was originally set to make seven total stops across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including in Valencia, Spain, and Tokyo, Japan. As of June, the league has decreased the number of stops to six.
The league’s planned January-to-April schedule conflicts with Unrivaled and European leagues, but not with the WNBA or FIBA commitments. The WNBA is on break due to the ongoing 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, and will restart in mid-September. The WNBA Finals will start Oct. 17 and will run until Oct. 31 at the latest.
“We are focused on the highest quality of play and ensuring our players can uphold their commitments in the W and with FIBA,” a Project B spokesperson told FOS in June.
Los Angeles Sparks forward Park Ji-Hyun was announced as the league’s 16th signee Monday, the league’s latest announced player. Before Park, Dallas Wings rookie Azzi Fudd was the last player to be announced back in June.
More player announcements are expected in the coming weeks. However, it’s not clear whether Project B still plans to hit the 66-player total it originally aimed for when it was announced last year.
The 16 players Project B has announced so far are:
- Kamilla Cardoso
- Sophie Cunningham
- Awa Fam
- Azzi Fudd
- Leonie Fiebich
- Justė Jocytė
- Jonquel Jones
- Leila Lacan
- Li Meng
- Jewell Loyd
- Kelsey Mitchell
- Nneka Ogwumike
- Park Ji-Hyun
- Alanna Smith
- Alyssa Thomas
- Mai Yamamoto
The league has yet to announce any players for its men’s league. However, it has named a few executives: Former Hawks GM Landry Fields as head of men’s basketball; former Suns coach Igor Kokoškov as head of player development; and recently retired NBA star Russell Westbrook as co-founder and its chief strategy officer.
Project B is luring women’s players with what FOS previously reported were annual salaries over $2 million. The WNBA supermax last year paid less than $300,000, but it’s up to $1.4 million this season under the new collective bargaining agreement. The draw with Project B is that players receive equity in addition to their salaries, as is increasingly common in emerging leagues, including Unrivaled.
Among the first few names Project B announced last year were Ogwumike, Thomas, Jones, Loyd, and Mitchell, blue-chip WNBA stars or former All-Stars. Ogwumike is the president of the players union and was crucial in getting the latest CBA over the line and avoiding delays to the 2026 WNBA season.
Mitchell’s commitment to Project B was put into question in April during Indiana Fever media day when she told reporters that it would take a “drastic, unique situation” for her to play overseas after she signed a one-year, $1.4 million supermax deal. The three-time All-Star also said that Unrivaled would remain an option for her because it’s in the U.S.
A Project B spokesperson told FOS that Mitchell is still signed with Project B and expected to play in its inaugural season.
Many of the signees are international players with varying levels of WNBA experience. Jones is from the Bahamas; Cardoso is from Brazil; Meng is from China; Salaun is from France; Jocytė is from Lithuania; Fiebich is from Germany; Yamamoto is from Japan; Smith is from Australia; and Park is from Korea. Ogwumike has unsuccessfully tried to gain eligibility to play for the Nigerian national team.
Observers have noted that Project B has followed players on social media shortly before announcing they’d committed to join. The league also follows New York Liberty’s Marine Johannes and WNBA players Diana Taurasi and Chiney Ogwumike, Nneka’s younger sister.
There has been speculation over how much money Project B has raised and where it’s coming from. When the league’s existence was first reported, the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Saudi Arabia confirmed they were involved. However, Project B founder Grady Burnett later told FOS the league’s funding “doesn’t include any dollars from Saudi Arabia.”
The company does have a deal with Sela, the Saudi events company, but the deal involves Project B paying Sela, not the other way around.
The league’s investors include several names from sports, tech, and venture capital.
Known investors:
- Grady Burnett
- Geoff Prentice
- Quiet Capital
- Mangrove Capital
- Sequence Capital
- Steve Young
- Barry Eggers
- Gaby Sulzberger
- Sloane Stephens
- Candace Parker
- Novak Djokovic
- Ime Archibong
- Niklas Zennstrom
- Merline Saintil
- Josh Childress
- John Chambers
- Robyn Washington
- David Krane
- Laela Sturdy
- Lauren Jackson
- Craig Tiley
Serbian sports agent Miško Ražnatović, who represents NBA star Nikola Jokic, is also an advisor for the new league.
This post will be updated as Project B announces more players and investors.
