You know what's special? Walking into an 18,000-capacity stadium that's already buzzing so loud it's vibrating, and knowing everyone there is in the same place for the same reason: it's time for a WNBA game. For two hours (give or take), the world's most powerful women's basketball players will battle it out on the court, driven primarily by a love of the game and an all-consuming desire to win, and you can join those 18,000 other fans by screaming, booing, stomping, hollering, and bemoaning to your heart's content.
But for far too long, fans of women's basketball didn't even get to come close to that experience. You'd be lucky if there were 2,000 people in the stands some nights; players were shunted from game to game by bus or on commercial flights that put them at risk of being accosted or late, and salaries — a perennial hot topic that should perpetually be addressed by the league — were so dismal that nearly everyone spent the offseason overseas, playing for teams with worse facilities and worse opportunities for rehab, and in countries where they didn't know anyone that well.
Fans didn't have the ability to hop on Instagram or TikTok to see what their favorite athletes were up to in China, in Turkey, or in Chile; instead, it was as if WNBA players simply disappeared for several months, reemerging when it was time to draft a new cohort into the league.
As most fans of the game now know, things have changed dramatically. They aren't perfect, but for the first time ever, women's basketball players have options. More than one WNBA team has state-of-the-art facilities, there are more eyes than ever before on the league and its athletes, the CBA negotiations are likely to result in increased salaries, and there are multiple strong, engaging, and flat-out fun offseason leagues to play in without ever having to leave the United States. There's more money than ever before being poured into professional women's basketball — and more money than ever before being made.
So why would a group of investors, some with no direct connection to women's basketball, want to come in and disrupt that ecosystem now — now that there is so much money in it — and why does it feel like women's basketball was a kind of back-up plan, only arrived at once NBA players and associated figures turned them down?
There's a reason that offseason leagues like Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited are so fun to watch, in person, on TV, and via social media, and it's not something that can easily be replicated, even if a lot of money is being thrown at doing so. The two leagues are different in a lot of key ways, but united in one crucial aspect: they provide WNBA players a safe, supportive environment in which to do what they love to do — and to have fun while doing so.
Athletes Unlimited paved the way for offseason basketball in the US
Athletes Unlimited is in its fifth season of women's pro basketball. This year's season will be played in Nashville, and the league has put together a roster of fan favorites, including returners Sydney Colson, Lexie Brown, and Isabelle Harrison, and newcomers like Jacy Sheldon and Te-Hina Paopao.
Athletes Unlimited is also different because the format of games is unique. Though play is 5x5 basketball, the teams rotate weekly, and players are competing both individually and as a unit to win championships and to raise money for individual causes. Player salaries are believed to be $30,000-40,000 for a 5-week season, and players have the opportunity to rack up bonuses.
Unrivaled raised the bar for women's pro basketball
Unrivaled, the brainchild of Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, was announced in 2023 and kicked off its inaugural season in Miami in January 2025. The league immediately raised the standard across the board in terms of salaries (an average of $220,000), accommodations, facilities, workout and rehab options, and, to be frank, fun: Unrivaled made it fun to watch games at home or in person, and players appeared to have a blast on and off the court.
The league will return for its second season in January 2026 and has added two new teams, a whole host of 2025 WNBA rookies, and has already demonstrated a commitment to supporting players and fans at the same time. Unrivaled was founded for WNBA players by WNBA players, and has always maintained a relationship with the WNBA and a willingness to work as two separate, but interconnected, leagues.
Project B is shrouded in secrecy — and feels unrealistic
Unlike Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited, leagues that have both made it clear they're more than willing to be adaptable and to not only coexist with the WNBA but thrive alongside it, the backers of Project B have made no such claims. As pointed out by Howard Megdal at The IX Basketball, there are also a lot of unanswered questions about how the league will operate, who is funding it, and whether or not fans of women's basketball in the US will really turn their attention toward a league that doesn't exactly feel connected to them — at least not in the same way the W, Unrivaled, and Athletes Unlimited do.
Project B has investors including Candace Parker, Steve Young, Novak Djokovic, and Sloane Stephens; the league is also reportedly offering players salaries of $2-3 million, and the first season is set to begin in November 2026. Organizers have stated that the schedule won't disrupt the WNBA season (which, it should be noted, is likely to be expanded to run from April to November under the new CBA).
The league has signed Nneka Ogwumike and Alyssa Thomas, two banner players who may also be thinking ahead to the end of their careers.
As Megdal noted, the league has set a goal of raising $5 billion — a goal that is astronomical in any context, but especially puzzling in this one. The WNBA, Unrivaled, and Athletes Unlimited all boast their own media deals and partnerships, but none of those come close to that amount, and it's difficult to fathom how Project B is pulling in that kind of money... unless there are non-traditional sources involved. (The league has denied that it has received backing from the Saudi Arabian government, but many have associated Project B with Sela, which is funded by the Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund established by the Saudi royal family that is estimated to be worth at least $900 billion.)
WNBA players deserve more money, more effort, and more resources
None of this is meant to denigrate Ogwumike and Thomas, two athletes who have left it all on the court for women's basketball and owe us nothing. The opportunity to be appropriately compensated is an important and powerful one, and all WNBA players deserve to enjoy exactly that.
But there's something especially off-putting about a foreign government with an abysmal women's rights track record having even a whisper of involvement in a women's basketball league, isn't there? Something that just doesn't feel a little genuine?
WNBA players are the strongest and best in the world, and, until proven otherwise, the United States and the league are home to the greatest to have ever done it. There are plenty of problems within the league and how it operates, and the current CBA fight is important and justified — and, hopefully, players will get everything they're demanding and more. Now is not the time to shift loyalties to another league — especially one that isn't transparent, that is open to interfering with the WNBA, and that seems just fine with the idea of disrupting what has proven to be the most successful, engaging, and incredibly fun couple of years women's basketball has seen.
The WNBA isn't perfect, a fact that's become abundantly clear in recent months as players have vocalized their frustrations and reservations, but there's a reason why Project B is attempting to step in now, and there's a reason it's happening in the way it's gone so far (announcing that the president of the WNBPA is joining the league as CBA negotiations are ongoing was certainly a choice). Now is the time for fans, players, coaches, owners, and everyone who is invested in women's professional basketball to pay close attention to what's happening and why — and to protect an ecosystem that has unlimited potential and that has for so long been a league of activists and women focused on empowering others.