(Photo credit score: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)
Indiana Fever stars Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham stay dedicated to upstart ladies’s basketball league Project B regardless of some earlier combined messages about how the WNBA’s new CBA may have an effect on their want to play abroad.
Mitchell informed reporters final week that it might take a ‘drastic, distinctive state of affairs’ to play abroad after the brand new CBA elevated participant salaries from a most of round $250,000 to $1.4 million.
However, she informed Front Office Sports on Saturday that the character of Project B — a touring league with seven two-week lengthy tournaments throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America from November 2026 to April 2027 — gives her with the pliability to return to the United States in between the 5-on-5 league’s tournaments.
‘There’s an enormous distinction, and I believe individuals acknowledge what that distinction is,’ mentioned Mitchell, a 2025 All-WNBA First-Team choice. ‘Project B offers you an opportunity to do each, go in and are available out, whereas (with) abroad basketball you have gotta be over there, eight months or seven months, simply to get every thing you need.’
Mitchell, 30, is coming into her ninth WNBA season. She is a three-time All-Star and averaged a career-high 20.2 factors final season and completed fifth within the MVP balloting.
Her Fever teammate Cunningham can also be nonetheless dedicated to enjoying for Project B, which she mentioned she initially signed with out of a want for ‘safety’ when it was unclear whether or not a 2026 WNBA season would occur amidst the continuing CBA talks.
Project B will reportedly pay out seven-figure salaries beginning at $2 million and supply gamers fairness within the league.
‘When they’re providing that sort of cash, plus the signing bonus, plus having fairness within the firm, it is a no-brainer. I’ve financially good individuals round me, they usually’re like, ‘You acquired to do it. Your physique’s acquired to suck it up,” mentioned Cunningham, who may also be a WNBA analyst for USA Network this coming season whereas persevering with to co-host the ‘Show Me Something’ podcast with actuality TV star West Wilson.
Cunningham, 29, spent her first six WNBA seasons with the Phoenix Mercury earlier than being obtained by Indiana earlier than final season.
The 6-foot-1 Cunningham averaged 8.6 factors and three.5 rebounds in 30 video games (13 begins) in 2025 earlier than she sustained a season-ending MCL tear in her proper knee. She has averages of seven.9 factors and a pair of.8 rebounds in 212 profession video games (105 begins), with 305 profession 3-pointers and 154 steals.
‘When firms pour into us, they actually see our worth,’ Cunningham mentioned. ‘That’s not simply on the basketball courtroom — that is simply in life as a businesswoman.’
Both gamers signed one-year offers with the Fever, with Mitchell making $1.4 million on a supermax deal and Cunningham incomes $655,000 for the season.
Mitchell and Cunningham are amongst 13 gamers who had been introduced as members for Project B, which is able to play in numerous international locations. Play is anticipated to start in November, with the final cease slated to be Tokyo from March 26-April 4, per FOS.
–Field Level Media