Awa Fam is one of the most exciting prospects eligible for this year’s WNBA Draft. The Spaniard is considered a strong contender to become the first overall pick of the event, having been a professional player in Spain and having represented her country in FIBA competitions since 2021. She most recently played for Valencia Basket in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, Spain’s top-flight women’s basketball league.
Fam is a native of Santa Pola, a coastal town near Alicante in the autonomous Community of Valencia, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast in the country’s southeast. Her parents are African immigrants from Senegal, who arrived in Alicante over three decades ago. Their names are Arame Thiam and Madoumbe Fam, and not much is known of them beyond the fact that they worked as market vendor in local public markets.
Awa Fam has always credited her family with instilling in her a work ethic, humility, and discipline. She also has two older brothers, Tala and Karim, who also played basketball. Both played at a professional level, with Tala achieving the higher level by playing in Ireland. Karim stayed at the local level, playing competitive basketball in the Community of Valencia.
Awa Fam On Her Dream To Reach the WNBA
According to a recent interview with Slam, Fam has always dreamt of playing in the WNBA, ever since she was a kid. She told the magazine as much at the start of the month.
“It was always my dream,” she said. “If I am there, I will keep improving…It’s gonna be nice for me, seeing the best players in the world, seeing what they’re doing each day, how they approach the game, and competing against them.”
She also shared her desire to be a true playmaker, not just the flashiest player scoring the most points in any given game, but to know she’s pulling the strings of the encounter.
“For me, it’s super important to be the person that reads the game all the time,” she said. “It’s not only scoring 20 points and [getting] 20 rebounds or something like that. It’s more than that. I want to pass the ball…If I have the ball in the block, for example, I need to be patient, see the defense and if my teammate [is open], I need to pass the ball to my teammate to create the best advantage for us.”
Awa Fam currently has the second-best odds to become the first overall pick of the WNBA Draft, with odds of +450. Above her is UConn’s Azzi Fudd, who has odds of -575. They’re the only players with a serious chance of being first overall, as Lauren Betts is third with odds of +1300.
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