WNBA drama continues with surprising news involving LeBron James’ business partner originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
In exactly two weeks’ time, the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement with the WNBPA expires — putting the league and the players’ union on course for an ill-timed work stoppage.
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The WNBA is bigger than ever. The WNBA Finals just drew 1.5 million average viewers, even though it ended with the Las Vegas Aces sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in four games. Five new franchises will enter the league over the next three seasons; two of them, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo, will begin play in 2026. A new media rights deal worth north of $200 million per year takes effect next season. After 29 seasons, the WNBA has become big business.
With big business though comes big expectations — such as the expectation from players that a new CBA will guarantee them more than 9.3 percent of the WNBA’s revenue. This is one of many sticking points in the CBA negotiations, which have seen Engelbert’s relationships with star players disintegrate amid the league’s reported failure to offer players even $1 million per year supermax contracts.
MORE: The WNBA still isn’t offering million-dollar salaries as CBA talks drag on
Set to exploit this stalemate and potential lockout is Maverick Carter, the longtime business parter of NBA legend LeBron James.
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ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that Carter was actively involved in the formation of a new “global circuit” men’s basketball league that would be financed in part by Singapore and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth funds. Carter though has since left this venture — known for now as “Project B” — and he now is focused on starting a new women’s professional league that is intended to rival the WNBA.
Over the past two years, WNBA players have more eagerly committed to playing Unrivaled in the offseason, a 3-on-3 league founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. But a startup 5-on-5 league would be a true rival to The W’s hegemony on women’s pro ball — and Carter’s litany of business connections could well make it happen.
