Project B’s rollout started with WNBA stars.
Their first signed player was 2016 WNBA MVP Nneka Ogwumike. Then it announced Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, and Jewell Loyd in rapid succession. The latest signee is Awa Fam, who may go No. 1 overall in the WNBA draft on April 13.
“She has the potential to be the next global superstar,” Project B co-founder and chief basketball officer Alana Beard told Front Office Sports. “A lot of people don’t know her because she is in Spain. But I can tell you just from my impressions of her, she’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
Details of Fam’s contract were not disclosed, but FOS had previously reported the league was offering WNBA stars multi-million dollar salaries.
Project B’s roster is now at 13 announced players, including other signees like Sky forward Kamilla Cardoso, Fever guards Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham, and New York Liberty forward Leonie Fiebich.
The league will field six teams of 11 players in its inaugural season. The start date, first expected to be November, will actually be December according to sources familiar with the league’s business operations. Since the WNBA CBA was finalized, questions have swirled around the potential conflict between the WNBA’s end of season and the beginning of Project B’s. The last possible end date for the 2026 WNBA season under the new CBA is Nov. 21. In 2028 it will be Nov. 30.
Beard—a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and WNBA champion—commended the standard set by the WNBA and its players with the new deal. She said Project B’s goal is to be “additive and collaborative” within the women’s basketball ecosystem.
“We have flexibility,” Beard said when asked about the league’s schedule conflicting with the WNBA. “And we’re really happy with how we’re positioned in the space.”
Fam’s addition highlights Project B’s efforts to be a developmental hub for international talent. The league is working with former professional basketball player and current agent Miško Ražnatović, who Beard credited as having played a significant role in the development of European talent. Ražnatović represents a number of European NBA stars including Nikola Jokic.
Fam made her professional debut with Valencia—a professional basketball powerhouse in Spain—before she was 18 years old. Project B will look to embrace developmental methods that have been a success for Ražnatović and Valencia in its own programming.
“We have so much access to information,” Beard said. “It only validates the depth of the talent pool. When you think about Awa in this context, she is the cornerstone of that vision for us. She’s one of those pieces.”
Beard declined to comment on who the league is targeting for its coaching staff, but said she will be leaning heavily on Ražnatović.
Project B announced Valencia as its second confirmed tour stop with the league set to play there from March 12 to March 21. The league’s last tour stop will be March 26-April 4 in Tokyo. The rest of the schedule has yet to be confirmed but is expected to feature seven total stops across Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
