“It’s not about being a competitor or a challenger. It’s about being an option. There are other options in every business, right? There’s DraftKings, there’s Nike, there’s Adidas. There’s always options. So it’s not about being a challenger or a competitor or putting the NBA out.” Maverick Carter, who was spotted alongside LeBron James and agent Misko Raznatovic, yachting in the south of France, discussed a bold new vision for the future of basketball. While Carter eventually stepped away from the talks, Grady Burnett and Geoff Prentice carried the vision forward. From those early conversations, Project B was born.

A former Google and Facebook executive, Burnett confirmed that the league has been two years in the making, with plans to launch a men’s equivalent as well, eventually.

“Burnett told The Athletic, Project B is set to begin with the women’s basketball league, in large part, because of the immense growth and interest in the sport. It will feature six teams of 11 players each that play seven two-week tournaments in cities across Asia, Europe and the Americas.”

Candace Parker is among the investors in the new league, joining a star-studded group that includes Novak Djokovic, Sloane Stephens, and Steve Young. One of the league’s future partners, Sela, is reportedly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which quickly sparked speculation that Project B might be a Saudi-backed venture. However, the organizers have since clarified that this is not the case.

Project B reached out to The Daily W to clarify the speculation about Saudi involvement. The league stated, “Project B has received no funding or backing from Saudi investors.”

In an official statement, they further elaborated, “Project B’s investors are elite venture capital and growth investors, including Mangrove Capital, Quiet Capital, and Sequence Capital, alongside 40 of the most influential tech investors globally including Niklas Zennstrom, John Chambers, Merline Saintil, Ime Archibong, and Gabrielle Salzburg who demand tech returns and are focused on creating equity value. We have partnerships with contractors AEG and SELA as event operators to organize amazing events in our host cities.”

So, while Sela will play a role in Project B’s event operations, it’s clear that the league’s funding comes from tech-driven, private investors. The startup isn’t slowing down. It’s already made its first major move, signing Nneka Ogwumike. She announced on Wednesday that she’s joining the startup league.

“For there to be an entry level of equity across the board was eye-catching,” the 10-time WNBA All-Star and former MVP told the Associated Press. “It’s something that I stand for, obviously.”

Some might say this move was inevitable, given the long history between Nneka Ogwumike and Alana Beard, Project B’s chief basketball officer. The two share a deep bond that goes back to Ogwumike’s rookie season in the WNBA, when they were teammates on the Los Angeles Sparks.

Beard has often referred to Ogwumike as a “sister,” and together they helped lead the Sparks to the 2016 WNBA championship, a team that also featured the Finals MVP of that season, Candace Parker, who just so happens to be an investor in the project as well.

Beard also revealed that Project B has already signed “multiple current All-WNBA players.” What’s even more groundbreaking is how they’ll be compensated. Every player will receive equity in the league, along with a salary package that Beard says can’t be matched anywhere else in the sport.

They’ve also officially confirmed that it will debut its first season from November 2026 through April 2027, perfectly aligning with the WNBA downtime. That now makes three leagues operating in the given window. All aim to tackle the same core issue: providing players with better opportunities, pay, and stability.

Is there any difference between Unrivaled, Athletes Unlimited, and Project B?

While Athletes Unlimited was the first to provide women athletes with an additional source of income in 2022, leagues like Project B and Unrivaled have taken things to the next level, offering players far greater financial rewards, visibility, and long-term opportunities both on and off the court.

Player. Partner. Owner.

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That’s how Project B intends to treat every single participant. You could say that’s precisely how Unrivaled views its athletes, too, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Both leagues share the same mission: to close the existing gap in the WNBA. But where they differ is in their fundamental approach.

Unrivaled, co-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, was born out of a simple but powerful idea: To give players another way to earn a living while staying stateside. Playing in the W alone wasn’t enough to provide financial stability, so they created a platform where athletes could make more money and build their personal brands.

But Project B was built with a different mindset. It aims to capitalize on the incredible surge in popularity that women’s basketball is currently experiencing. “The growth in women’s sports rivals anything in AI right now,” Grady Burnett said, explaining why they chose to start with women’s basketball instead of men’s. “It is truly majestic.” 

This is why I believe…

WNBA’s future could be in real danger due to Project B: Opinion

A WNBA executive told Front Office Sports that Nneka’s move was “an intentional move to exert pressure on labor negotiations.” Similar claims were made about Napheesa Collier after she went public with her private talks with Cathy Engelbert.

For some, this might sound like progress, but I do not see it that way.

The W remains the only place where the world’s best players compete against each other. Now, with three different leagues in play, that talent ends up getting scattered across the map. And for fans, that’s never a good thing. Unfortunately for Cathy Engelbert, this might be just the beginning of her problems.

You see, according to FOS, multiple WNBA stars are being offered seven-figure salaries, starting at around $2 million per year, by Project B, with multi-year deals potentially reaching eight figures. That’s significantly more than what Unrivaled (with an average salary of $222,222) or the W can offer.

Both Unrivaled founders have repeatedly emphasized that their goal was never to compete with the WNBA. Their mission has always been to empower women athletes by providing them with an additional source of income. Project B, on the other hand, hasn’t made any such claim.

But the fact that it spans nearly the same stretch as the W raises some eyebrows. Sure, it’s structured around seven two-week tournaments, meaning fewer games overall, but who’s to say what happens a few years down the line?

Remember back in 2015 when Diana Taurasi skipped an entire WNBA season after her Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, offered her $1.5 million, compared to just $107,000 from the Phoenix Mercury?

That’s a 14x pay jump.

Who in their right mind would turn that down?

Who’s to say history won’t repeat itself?

If Project B continues to grow, it could one day become so big that it asks players to skip the W altogether. And if that happens, it could completely reshape the women’s basketball landscape as we know it.

As mentioned above, Beard also confirmed that the league has already signed several other players, including multiple current All-WNBA stars, rising young talents, and players from four different continents. That could very well mean names like A’ja Wilson, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, DeWanna Bonner, and, of course, Caitlin Clark might be in the mix.

In fact, Rachel DeMita even mentioned that Clark could reportedly earn close to $50 million if she decides to join Project B, and that kind of money would be game-changing.

And once Project B starts doing that, why wouldn’t the WNBA’s other competitor, Unrivaled, follow suit? The league already has NIL deals lined up with rising stars like JuJu Watkins, Lauren Betts, Hannah Hidalgo, and Olivia Miles, along with an elite roster that includes Phee, Stewie, Paige, and Plum.

Both leagues are already offering players equity and salaries far higher than what the W provides. If Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA fail to meet the players’ demands, we could be staring at a brand-new era in women’s basketball. One where Unrivaled and Project B ultimately become the premier leagues globally.

The signs are already there. The Players’ Association president is with Project B, while vice presidents Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, and Kelsey Plum are part of Unrivaled. VP Alysha Clark, along with Secretary Elizabeth Williams, is affiliated with Athletes Unlimited.

It’s a clear indication that players are prepared to explore a new path if the WNBA doesn’t meet their demands.