Maverick Carter is no longer involved with the planned international basketball league that aims to disrupt the sport, multiple sources told Front Office Sports.
“Project B,” as it has been called behind the scenes for nearly two years, still plans to launch next fall with five-on-five men’s and women’s basketball leagues. Led by Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, the investor group also includes tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Sloane Stephens, former WNBA stars Candace Parker, Alana Beard, and Lauren Jackson, and ex-NFL quarterback Steve Young.
Carter, the longtime business partner of LeBron James, was advising the group before. Over the summer, Carter was spotted on a boat in France with James and Miško Ražnatović, the European agent for Nikola Jokić; multiple sources told FOS that the meeting was about the project.
Now a spokesperson for Carter confirmed he no longer has any role in the organization, formal or informal.
“This group came to Maverick for consultation, which he gave, and he subsequently stepped away months ago,” the spokesperson told FOS. “He is no longer working with them or any other basketball league in Europe.”
Despite Carter’s exit, Project B is still on track, according to those still involved.
Alana Beard, a four-time WNBA All-Star who won a championship with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016, is a co-founder and chief basketball officer for the league.
Shortly after retiring from the WNBA in 2020, Beard joined venture capital firm SVB Capital as a senior associate. She has also been involved in two separate WNBA franchise bids, including an ultimately failed effort to bring an expansion team to Oakland. (The Bay Area later landed a team under Warriors ownership, the Golden State Valkyries.)
“I’ve always had my mind set on ownership,” she told FOS.
The venture plans to start next fall, with seasons expected to run through April. (That would compete directly with the NBA calendar, but possibly not the WNBA, which plays in the summer.) Project B plans to host tournaments in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Like Unrivaled—the upstart three-on-three women’s basketball league based in the U.S.—it plans to give players equity, although specifics were not disclosed.
“We’re paying multiples higher than is available right now in the world of women’s sports,” Burnett told FOS. “We are paying the highest salaries and equity packages in women’s team sports, and this will be some of the best players in the world. We want this to be incredible basketball.”
The group was seeking $5 billion in funding, Bloomberg reported in January. It declined to share how much funding it has actually raised.
Project B has not yet announced who will play in the league, but a spokesperson for the venture says they have “secured commitments from some of the game’s most respected athletes” including at least one current WNBA player.
In addition to Beard, Prentice, Burnett, Parker, Djokovic, and Young, Project B says it has backing from investment firms Quiet Capital, Sequence Capital, and Mangrove Capital.
“The players are our partners, they’re one of our largest stakeholders,” Beard said. “They are creating value, and getting paid for that value.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
