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 April 2026, Project B has signed more than a dozen women’s players, but no men have been announced. The league will not say how much money it has raised.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Carter told FOS 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 is expected to make seven total stops across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with two stops already announced: Valencia, Spain, and Tokyo, Japan. (The league’s planned December-to-April schedule conflicts with Unrivaled and European leagues, but not with the WNBA.)
Dallas Wings forward Alanna Smith is the latest Project B signee announced Friday, joining other recently announced players including Awa Fam and Mai Yamamoto.
The 14 players Project B has announced so far are:
- Kamilla Cardoso
- Sophie Cunningham
- Awa Fam
- Leonie Fiebich
- Justė Jocytė
- Jonquel Jones
- Li Meng
- Jewell Loyd
- Kelsey Mitchell
- Nneka Ogwumike
- Janelle Salaün
- Alanna Smith
- Alyssa Thomas
- Mai Yamamoto
Project B is luring 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 Tuesday 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; and Smith is from Australia. Ogwumike has unsuccessfully tried to gain eligibility to play for the Nigerian national team.
The only players without experience in a WNBA game are Yamomoto, who signed a training camp contract with the Dallas Wings last year; Jocytė, a 2025 draft pick who will join the Golden State Valkyries this year; and Fam, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft.
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
- Robin 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. In an interview with FOS in April, Ražnatović said, “Project B is very ambitious and completely different from everything we’ve seen up ’til now… But like NBA Europe, it’s completely unclear when and how it will look. But this idea is real for the moment.”
This post will be updated as Project B announces more players and investors.
