Azzi Fudd signs with Project B as global basketball league takes shape

Azzi Fudd has joined Project B, adding one of the WNBA’s newest high-profile players to an international basketball league that has not yet begun competition, Fortune reported. The move points to a changing market for women’s players, who increasingly can treat overseas play as a brand and equity opportunity rather than a financial necessity.

Fudd, 23, was the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft and plays for the Dallas Wings, according to Fortune. She is the latest women’s player attached to Project B, a planned men’s and women’s basketball league backed by founders with ties to Facebook and Skype and advised by Maverick Carter, the business partner of LeBron James, Fortune reported.

Project B plans to open in January with a Formula 1-style format that moves events among six cities, including Tokyo and Valencia, Spain, according to Fortune. Cofounder Grady Burnett told Fortune the league’s model calls for arenas with available dates to pay Project B to bring international basketball stars to their markets.

A new off-season option

For years, WNBA players often spent the league’s off-season playing abroad to add income to relatively modest domestic salaries, Fortune reported. That system brought extra pay, but it also meant more wear on players’ bodies, long stretches away from the U.S. and less time to build sponsorships at home.

Project B is offering players equity, Fortune reported, placing it alongside Unrivaled, the U.S.-based 3-on-3 league that has created another off-season path for women’s players. Burnett told Fortune the aim is to put athletes before fans around the world.

Fudd told Fortune she was drawn to the chance to play outside the United States after spending much of her career training domestically. She said her father, Tim Fudd, played overseas, and she grew up hearing about international basketball from him and other players.

Fudd also saw overseas demand firsthand during a trip to Chongqing, China, with Steph Curry last summer, Fortune reported. She told Fortune that fans there approached her with magazine copies, photos and custom Labubus, an experience that showed her how basketball could expand her audience outside the U.S.

Funding questions and roster building

Bloomberg reported in early 2025 that Project B was seeking to raise as much as $5 billion. Burnett told Fortune that figure was higher than the final target, said the capital raise is complete and declined to disclose the amount raised.

The league has faced scrutiny over reports of Saudi funding, Fortune reported. Burnett told Fortune that Project B did not take Saudi capital and said its past work with Sela, an entertainment company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is no longer active.

Fudd enters the professional game with a large digital audience, including more than 800,000 Instagram followers and a similar TikTok following, Fortune reported. She also has U.S. sponsorships, including a deal with hair color brand Madison Reed, and is setting up accounts on China-focused platforms Douyin and Rednote, according to Fortune.

Other women who have signed with Project B include Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Kelsey Mitchell and Jewell Loyd, Fortune reported. The league has not announced any men’s players, though Burnett has described the men’s strategy as focused on extending the careers of established NBA players, according to The Athletic as cited by Fortune.

The international push comes as the WNBA and NBA both draw more heavily from global basketball, Fortune reported. The WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement includes higher salaries, and Fortune noted that international players have won the NBA’s MVP award for the past eight seasons.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.