Igor Kokoskov joins new basketball league Project B as head of player development

Longtime NBA assistant Igor Kokoskov has joined the startup men's and women's basketball league Project B as its head of player development, the organization announced Thursday.

Kokoskov, who coached the Phoenix Suns in 2018, is the league's latest hire — former Atlanta Hawks GM Landry Fields was recently named Project B's head of men's basketball — as it moves closer to its January 2027 debut.

The league has already started rolling out its women’s circuit, and so far about a dozen women’s basketball players have said they’ll be participating.

Kokoskov became the first NBA head coach born and raised outside North America when he was hired by Phoenix in 2018 after serving as a Suns assistant from 2008 to 2013. He has also spent more than two decades as an assistant with numerous teams, including the Hawks. He has coached the national team for his native Serbia and led Slovenia to the 2017 FIBA EuroBasket Championship.

Project B will feature six teams with 11 players and plans to barnstorm across Europe and Asia. Valencia, Spain, and Tokyo have already been announced as host cities. It will debut early next year, with the men’s and women’s circuits running together from January-April.