{"id":887566,"date":"2026-09-08T04:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/887566\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T04:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T04:52:13","slug":"park-ji-hyun-joins-project-b-global-basketball-league-seoul-camp-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/887566\/","title":{"rendered":"Park Ji-hyun joins Project B global basketball league, Seoul camp set"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subtitle \" style=\"\">Project B, a new global league, announced that it had signed Park Ji-hyun and unveiled its plans to host a training camp in Seoul in January next year, ahead of its inaugural season.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Park Ji-hyun, center, high-fives teammates during the second Group A game against Nigeria at the FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup 2026 qualifying tournament in Villeurbanne, France, on March 12.<br \/>\n        INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL FEDERATION\n    <\/p>\n<p>Korean national team fixture and current Women\u2019s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player Park Ji-hyun has joined a startup international basketball league.<\/p>\n<p>Project B announced on Tuesday that it had signed Park and unveiled its plans to host a training camp in Seoul in January next year, ahead of its inaugural season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision to begin this chapter in Seoul reflects Project B\u2019s long-term commitment to Korea and its broader belief in Asia as a critical center of basketball\u2019s global future,\u201d said Geoff Prentice, the co-founder and CEO of Project B, in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud to have the very best Korean players alongside the best players from around the world, bringing global talent together in a country with such a deep passion for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Project B is the new global league founded by Prentice and Grady Burnett, a former Google and Facebook executive. It comprises separate women\u2019s and men\u2019s leagues, with six teams per circuit featuring 11 players each.<\/p>\n<p>Former WNBA star Alana Beard is Project B\u2019s chief basketball officer, and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook joined as chief strategy officer following his recent retirement.<\/p>\n<p>NFL legend Steve Young and tennis great Novak Djokovic are among Project B\u2019s investors and advisers.<\/p>\n<p>Several other WNBA players have already committed to Project B, including Nneka Ogwumike, Park\u2019s teammate with the Los Angeles Sparks, and Phoenix Mercury All-Star Alyssa Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Project B plans to offer its female players more money than the WNBA and give them equity in the league. Its inaugural season is set to run from January to April 2027, avoiding the May-to-October WNBA window.<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/12865071.webp\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" alt=\"(\uc11c\uc6b8=\ub274\uc2a41) = \uc5ec\uc790\ub18d\uad6c\ub300\ud45c\ud300 \ubc15\uc9c0\ud604\uc774 12\uc77c(\ud55c\uad6d\uc2dc\uac04) \ud504\ub791\uc2a4 \ube4c\ub8b0\ub974\ubc18\uc758 \uc544\uc2a4\ud2b8\ub85c\ubc1c\uc5d0\uc11c \uc5f4\ub9b0 2026 FIBA \uc5ec\uc790 \ub18d\uad6c \uc6d4\ub4dc\ucef5 \ucd5c\uc885\uc608\uc120 A\uc870 2\ucc28\uc804 \ub098\uc774\uc9c0\ub9ac\uc544\uc640\uc758 \uacbd\uae30\uc5d0\uc11c \ub808\uc774\uc5c5\uc29b\uc744 \uc2dc\ub3c4\ud558\uace0 \uc788\ub2e4. (FIBA \uc81c\uacf5. \uc7ac\ud310\ub9e4 \ubc0f DB \uae08\uc9c0) 2026.3.13\/\ub274\uc2a41\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n            Park Ji-hyun, left, attempts a layup during the second Group A game against Nigeria at the FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup 2026 qualifying tournament in Villeurbanne, France, on March 12.<br \/>\n            INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL FEDERATION\n        <\/p>\n<p>The Project B season will be played in tournaments throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America. Valencia in Spain and the Japanese capital of Tokyo have been confirmed as tournament hosts.<\/p>\n<p>Project B said that Park Hyatt Seoul in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, will host its training camp\u00a0with players, coaches and basketball officials from Jan. 6 to 12, 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have Project B bring a training camp to Seoul makes this moment even more special for me,\u201d Park said in the Project B statement. \u201cKorea is home, and I am incredibly proud that my teammates from around the world will have the opportunity to experience the energy, culture and passion for basketball here. I can\u2019t wait to welcome everyone [\u2026] to begin this journey together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By joining the Sparks ahead of this season, Park became just the third Korean player ever to play in the WNBA. A former first overall pick in the Women\u2019s Korean Basketball League, Park quickly emerged as one of the country\u2019s top players for Asan Woori Bank, winning the Rookie of the Year award in the 2018-19 season and helping her team to three championships.<\/p>\n<p>She spent time in pro leagues in Australia, New Zealand and Spain before taking her talent to the WNBA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Park] has sought out the highest levels of competition around the world and continued to elevate her game everywhere that she has played,\u201d Beard said. \u201cShe is a tremendous talent, an exceptional representative of Korean basketball and exactly the kind of player that we want helping build Project B. Seoul is one of the world\u2019s great cultural capitals, with an incredible basketball community and an energy that reaches far beyond sport. Bringing our players here [\u2026] gives us the opportunity to build something special together while connecting with the city and its culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yonhap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Project B, a new global league, announced that it had signed Park Ji-hyun and unveiled its plans to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-887566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}