Project B (sort of) has a schedule, with a 10-day competition tipping off in Tokyo in March 2027

Project B, the six-team international league set to launch in November 2026, has confirmed one of it’s seven inaugural season stops: Tokyo.

Tokyo Arena will host a 10-day event in the spring of 2027, beginning March 26 and going through April 4. A local champion will be crowned, while the competition will also factor into a season-long championship race.

In addition to providing the first concrete details about the league, Project B announced Mai Yamamoto as its latest signee. Yamamoto gives Project B 11 of its expected 66 players, as she follows Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Mitchell, Kamilla Cardoso, Leonie Fiebich, Janelle Salaün, Sophie Cunningham, Justē Jocytē and Li Meng.

A 26-year-old 5-foot-5 guard, Yamamoto spent time with the Dallas Wings during their 2025 WNBA training camp. She has played professionally in the Women’s Japan Basketball League for the Toyota Antelopes since 2017, in addition to representing Japan internationally in senior, youth and 3×3 competitions.

Project B taking a first step towards formalizing its inaugural season is foremost about the league, despite lingering skeptics, becoming a real, sustainable player on the women’s professional basketball landscape.

But, it’s also hard not to see this announcement in the context of the continued negotiations for a new WNBA CBA. The WNBA, by not engaging with the WNBPA on key issues, seems to see itself as irreplaceable, believing the players will eventually realize they need the WNBA.

But as Ogwumike, the WNBPA president who also was, likely not coincidentally, the first signee announced by Project B, recently expressed to ESPN, women’s pro basketball is better for the women that play pro basketball when the opportunities are expansive. Ogwumike asserted:

When perhaps the one opportunity that we’ve built is now matching the social consciousness, it almost feels as though others can be omitted, or others are not as valid. And I really do; I really do stand against that. You know, we’ve seen so much amazing progress and all the opportunities that we’ve been afforded.

We entered this league with our vets telling us to play overseas. [Athletes Unlimited is] in the mix. Two of our union’s leaders have created a league for players that values player compensation and salary, and now we have more opportunity with a global aspect of the game in Project B.

I just feel like the threat of change and the threat of something new, especially to women, is always going to shake things up. It’s always going to be disruptive. But anything that is more opportunities for women in sport is good. And I really implore upon others to understand that, because there is no conflict when we’re creating more opportunity.