Project B started with WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike as its very first signed player, immediately capturing mainstream sports headlines. With its January 2027 launch drawing closer, the new global basketball league has continued to stack its roster with recognisable WNBA names and international stars. And right now, the league’s announced player count has extended to a total of 22 players, leaving it 44 players shy of its planned 66-player pool.
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As published by Front Office Sports’ Colin Salao, Project B recently added six new players to extend its announced roster to 22. And the plan to reach its original target of 66 players is still on.
“Project B has announced six new signees: Valériane Ayayi, Antonia Delaere, Angela Dugalić, Brionna Jones, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, Makayla Timpson. The league has now announced 22 players. It still plans to hit its original goal of 66,” Salao shared in an X post on Thursday.
Project B was first officially announced in October 2025, with the initial plan of launching in fall 2026. The league positioned itself as a global 5-on-5 professional basketball league with both men’s and women’s circuits. But while no men have been announced as signings yet, the women’s circuit has now been scheduled to launch its inaugural season in January 2027. It is expected to operate during the WNBA offseason, specifically from January to April. This means it will run simultaneously with European leagues and the newly established league Unrivalled.
One of the factors that drew quite a bit of attention to Project B is the fact that quite a number of the players that have signed with the league are big names in the WNBA, who command significant wages. These include players like Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd and Kelsey Mitchell. Here’s a list of the 22 total players signed so far:
- Valériane Ayayi (Phoenix Mercury)
- Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky)
- Sophie Cunningham (Indiana Fever)
- Antonia Delaere (Minnesota Lynx)
- Angela Dugalić (Washington Mystics)
- Awa Fam (Seattle Storm)
- Azzi Fudd (Dallas Wings)
- Leonie Fiebich (New York Liberty)
- Justė Jocytė (Golden State Valkyries)
- Brionna Jones (Atlanta Dream)
- Jonquel Jones (New York Liberty)
- Leila Lacan (Connecticut Sun)
- Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (Washington Mystics)
- Li Meng (No current WNBA team)
- Jewell Loyd (Las Vegas Aces)
- Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana Fever)
- Nneka Ogwumike (Los Angeles Sparks)
- Park Ji-Hyun (Los Angeles Sparks)
- Alanna Smith (Dallas Wings)
- Makayla Timpson (Indiana Fever)
- Alyssa Thomas (Phoenix Mercury)
- Mai Yamamoto (Las Vegas Aces)
While Kelsey Mitchell was in fact announced as one of Project B’s signees, there was a degree of doubt around whether she would actually go through with the commitment. The uncertainty comes after Mitchell mentioned that she would be reluctant to play overseas during an Indiana Fever media day interview, not long after signing a one-year, $1.4 million supermax deal with the Fever.
“It would have to be a drastic, unique situation for me to go back overseas,” Mitchell told reporters at the Fever’s media day. “Where I’m at in my career now, I’d rather play it smart. Make sure my body is what it needs to be. And then also, respecting my craft. I feel like sometimes when you go overseas, you lose sight of some of the perfecting of the skills that you miss out on just because you’re going to try to make a couple dollars. I got a soul. So I’d rather make sure that I’m right before I want to keep going overseas and missing out on a lot.”
However, after that comment and the uncertainty it created, Front Office Sports reported that a Project B spokesperson confirmed Mitchell will still continue with Project B and that the expectation is that she will play in its inaugural season. So, while Mitchell has reservations about playing overseas, it appears she will still go through with the commitment, despite her concerns and even though Project B will play across three countries.
Project B’s Three-Country Format: Where and How the New League Will Operate
Instead of operating like a traditional league where teams have a permanent home stadium and travel back and forth for individual games, Project B will use a Formula 1-style or PGA Tour-style travelling circuit. That means all six teams, with all 66 players, including coaches and staff, will pack up and fly to the exact same city at the exact same time for about two weeks.
During this time, they’ll hold intensive training sessions and play a condensed multi-day tournament, which will crown a local event champion. They will also host cultural fan festivals. The entire league will then take a short break before moving on to the next city on the global calendar. Meanwhile, the results from each individual city tournament will feed points into a season-long championship leaderboard.
Initially, the plan was for there to be a total of seven stops across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. However, the league has now reduced that to six stops. And so far, three of the six stops have been announced, including Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan; and Valencia, Spain. The league will kick off in Seoul, starting with a training camp that will run from Jan. 6 to 12.