Project B Explained: What the New Women's League Means for WNBA Players' Offseason Options

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published November 4, 2026. Last updated November 4, 2026.

Project B has changed its plan since its first announcement, so older coverage describes a league that no longer matches the calendar. This guide uses the latest dated reporting, through November 4, 2026, and separates what is confirmed from what is still open. How the WNBA calendar itself works is in the WNBA offseason guide.

What is Project B?

Project B is a global basketball circuit built as a series of city tournaments instead of a home-and-away league. The league is led by Geoff Prentice, Grady Burnett and Alana Beard, its chief basketball officer, per Forbes. Forbes describes each stop as a 10-day event that crowns a local champion and feeds a season-long championship race, a structure it compares to Formula 1. Reuters' Hangzhou dates span six days, so event length varies. A January 2026 release described the business as athlete partnership and ownership, a tournament circuit, streaming and social distribution, per Business Wire.

The men's side is still being built. Reuters reports that Russell Westbrook is a co-founder and chief strategy officer helping to develop a planned men's program, per Reuters through Devdiscourse.

When and where does Project B play?

The start moved from fall 2026 to January 2027, and the plan shrank from seven stops to six, per Front Office Sports in its November 4, 2026 update. Four stops are announced. Reuters, dated September 30, 2026, gives the dates below, and the first competition is a six-team, five-on-five event.

Earlier releases gave Valencia as March 12 to 22 and named Tokyo's Toyota Arena for April 2027, per Business Wire, so confirm exact dates with the league before booking anything. Two stops have not been announced. Games are planned for YouTube, per Forbes.

Who has signed with Project B?

Front Office Sports counts 28 announced women, 26 with WNBA experience. The two without WNBA experience are Veronika Voráčková and Mariona Ortiz. The announced list includes Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Brionna Jones, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Mitchell, Kamilla Cardoso, Sophie Cunningham, Azzi Fudd, Leonie Fiebich, Li Meng and Mai Yamamoto. The league originally planned a 66-player roster, and Front Office Sports notes the league did not reconfirm that number in November.

Announced is not the same as signed to play every stop. A player on the list can still be deciding between this circuit and others, and the league is the only source that can confirm a roster spot. Agents see this gap: a name can appear on an announcement before the contract details are settled.

How much does Project B pay?

The league has not published a pay scale. The only figure on record is a report that Ogwumike, the first signed player, is set to earn more than $2 million a year, per Forbes. Players also receive equity in the league, which the founders present as the key difference from a traditional league, per Forbes. The article gives no funding amounts and no pay for other players.

I built the Player One-Page Profile and Highlight Reel Brief for readers in this spot. Templates for a one-page player profile and a highlight reel brief.

For scale, Front Office Sports reports that the WNBA's top salary was under $300,000 last year and can reach $1.4 million under the new labor agreement. WNBA pay is in the WNBA salaries guide. A reported salary for one player says little about the next one, and equity has no value until the terms are in writing.

How does Project B fit around the WNBA season and Unrivaled?

It fits around the WNBA and collides with Unrivaled. Front Office Sports says Project B's schedule conflicts with Unrivaled and with European leagues but not with the WNBA or FIBA commitments. The 2026 WNBA Finals were set to end by October 31, and the league was on break for the FIBA Women's World Cup before that, per the same report. Beard describes Project B as an addition to women's basketball rather than a competitor, per Forbes.

Unrivaled's 2027 season begins in January 2027 as a 3-on-3 league with 48 players, with tour stops in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Minneapolis, where the game is January 24, per MPR News. Both leagues run in the same January-to-spring window, so Front Office Sports expects few players to do both, per its June 23, 2026 report on the winter calendar. Fudd, who has an NIL deal with Unrivaled, signed with Project B in June, and Mitchell and Alanna Smith, who played Unrivaled in 2026, are on Project B's roster, per that report.

One variable could narrow the window. Under the new labor agreement the WNBA can extend its season into late November, which would shrink the offseason for every league, per Front Office Sports. The calendar mechanics are in the WNBA offseason guide.

How do the offseason options compare?

The 2027 WNBA season dates were not in the sources reviewed, so a player planning a full winter should check the league's reporting rules before signing anywhere. The FIBA national-team windows that pull players from clubs are in the World Cup qualifier window post.

What should a player and family ask before signing?

• Get the pay, the payment dates and the remedy for a late payment in writing, as the overseas contract checklist describes.
• Ask exactly what the equity is, how it vests, and what happens to it if the player leaves or is injured.
• Ask how injury, travel and the number of games per stop are handled across multi-day events in different countries.
• Ask where a dispute would be heard. Overseas disputes often go to the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal, covered in the default protections guide.
• Check any exit date against WNBA reporting rules, and confirm the representative handling the deal is certified, using the trust checklist.

What is still unknown about Project B?

The two unannounced stops, the full roster, pay beyond one reported figure, the equity terms and how the men's program will run are all open. The league moved its start once already, so treat each date as current only as of the report that gives it. The league's own release and the signed contract are the sources that count.