DAKAR, Senegal  — The Basketball Africa League will start “BAL Elevate,” a new program that will see one NBA Academy Africa prospect join each of the 12 BAL teams for the league’s 2022 season tipping off Saturday, March 5.

The inaugural BAL Elevate program will feature 12 prospects from six African countries who currently attend NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal for the top high-school age prospects from across Africa. The program will provide an opportunity for the next generation of African prospects to participate in the new professional league, showcase their talent on a global stage and help their respective teams compete for the 2022 BAL Championship.

“We believe BAL Elevate will be immensely valuable to the 12 BAL teams and to the young men from NBA Academy Africa who are ready to contribute at the professional level alongside the best players on the continent,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “There is a natural synergy between the BAL and NBA Academy Africa, and this program will provide another pathway for elite African prospects to reach their potential as players and people.”

The BAL Elevate selection process was conducted yesterday by BAL Team Presidents. BAL Elevate players from the same country as a BAL team were automatically appointed to that team. If there was more than one BAL Elevate player from the same country as a BAL team, the team selected one of the players while the remaining player(s) re-joined the player pool for the opportunity to be selected by a different team. BAL Elevate players will not share in the prize money awarded to the top BAL teams at the end of the season to preserve their amateur status.

The 12 BAL teams, which include defending BAL Champion Zamalek (Egypt), have been divided into two conferences – the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference. Each conference will play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the five other teams in its conference once. The Sahara Conference group phase will take place at the Dakar Arena from March 5-15, while the Nile Conference group phase will take place at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo from April 9-19. The top four teams from each conference will qualify for the BAL Playoffs, which will feature a single-elimination tournament and Finals at Kigali Arena from May 21-28.

Sahara Conference
AS Salé (Morocco) Nadir Bennis Morocco 19 6’2 PG/SG
CFV (Mozambique) Reuben Abuchi Chinyelu Nigeria 18 6’10 PF
DUC (Senegal) Babacar Sane Senegal 18 6’6 G
REG (Rwanda) Joy Ighovodja Nigeria 17 6’4 PG
S.L.A.C (Guinea) Serigne Saliou Mbaye Senegal 18 6’2 PG
US Monastir (Tunisia) Charles Loic Onana Awana Cameroon 18 6’7 G

Nile Conference
Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) Matar Diop Senegal 18 6’8 F
Cobra Sport (South Sudan) Khaman Madit Maluach South Sudan 15 7’0 F
Espoir Fukash (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Emmanuel Eberechukwu Okorafor Nigeria 17 6’9 F
F.A.P (Cameroon) Ulrich Kamka Chomche Cameroon 16 6’11 F
Petro de Luanda (Angola) Thierry Serge Darlan Central African Republic 18 6’6 SG
Zamalek (Egypt) Khadim Rassoul Mboup Senegal 15 6’7 G

In the season opener, Senegal’s Dakar Université Club (DUC) will take on Guinea’s Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (S.L.A.C) at 12:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. GMT in the first of 38 games taking place across three cities over the next three months.

NBA Academy is a year-round elite basketball development program that provides top high school-age prospects from outside the U.S. with a holistic approach to player development and a predictable pathway to maximize their potential. In 2018, NBA Academy Africa opened a new facility in Saly, Senegal, which features two indoor basketball courts, a multipurpose activity center, a weight room, conference rooms, dormitories and educational facilities. Since NBA Academy Africa opened in 2017, 19 male and female participants have committed to NCAA Division I schools in the U.S.

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Whether the sport in being celebrated two hours to the south at Mohegan Sun, an hour and a half to the west in Springfield, Mass, being played at WNBA and NBA arenas nationwide or destinations around the globe, the game of basketball is in the news in a big way this weekend and for many months to come.

The Basketball Hall of Fame is utilizing the Mohegan Sun (Uncasville, Connecticut) as headquarters for the 2020 Enshrinement ceremony this weekend, then packing up the circus tents and heading to the newly renovated Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame museum in Springfield – the birthplace of basketball – to announce the 2021 class of inductees. (The names of Celtics star Paul Pierce and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boy era have already leaked out as ‘21 inductees).

First! The 2020 class is among the most elite in history, with Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and the late Kobe Bryant headlining the group. The 2020 class induction, forever to be known as a memorial tribute to Bryant, has been delayed – for what seems to be forever and a day – because of the global pandemic. While Bryant deserved top billing, for sure, the class of ‘20 represents a wide-ranging group, spanning the globe from FIBA HQ in Europe (to honor the late Patrick Baumann) to Bentley College, only 11 miles down the road where Bentley Coach Barbara Stevens calls home.

The 2020 class represents every aspect of the sport of basketball quite well. Stevens and Baylor/LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey are inducted as top notch and deserved women’s team college coaches while Tamika Catchings (NCAA: Tennessee, WNBA: Indiana Fever, USA: Multiple Gold) represents the very best the sport has to offer, both on and off-court.

Just as you would expect with such a glorious cast, the coaches on the men’s side are among the very best with the late Eddie Sutton memorialized for his work via the college game and the great Rudy “Rudy T” Tomjanovich honored for his work with the Houston Rockets. Credited for his longtime, loyal assistant coaching efforts for Bill Fitch and as the two-time NBA championship head coach of the Rockets, Rudy T knew the game from the inside out. He was also an NBA All-Star forward (San Diego/Houston Rockets), never mind his impressive work for USA Basketball as head coach at the 1998 Worlds (Bronze during NBA labor dispute) and 2000 Sydney Olympics (Gold medal). … Remember: “Don’t EVER underestimate the heart of a champion.”

Even the media awards pay tribute to the best of the best with ABC/ESPN/MSG Network’s Mike Breen being honored for his play-by-play work and Mike Wilbon honored for print journalism. Wilbon, the Washington Post sports columnist for decades, turned Pardon the Interruption television personality extraordinaire and Breen, the voice of the NBA on ABC and ESPN, are both being honored as the Curt Gowdy Media Award winners for 2020.

Yes, with the 2020 honors, the Basketball Hall of Fame took a page from its counterpart in Cooperstown and “touched all bases” with a class for the ages. But the BHofF enshrinement for 2020 and this week’s announcement for 2021 are merely the dessert being served before the main course of hoops mania over the next few months. How? Let us count the ways:

1. The 25th Anniversary season for the WNBA tipped-off Friday night with four exciting games, including the return of 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, who had her rookie season cut short with a season-ending ankle injury in just her third pro game. Ionescu put an exclamation point on her return, hitting the game-winning three-pointer from the wing with less than a second remaining to give the New York Liberty a 90-87 victory over the Indiana Fever in the WNBA’s season opener. … As part of the WNBA’s 25th season and its focus on innovation, the league will launch the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup in-season competition during the 2021 season. Conference rivalry bragging rights, a new WNBA Commissioner’s Cup trophy and a prize pool of $500,000 will all be at stake when the inaugural WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game is played on Thursday, Aug. 12, at Phoenix Suns Arena. … Regular season WNBA action will take on an added level of importance as 60 select, intra-conference “Cup games” will determine the Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams that will advance to the first ever Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game. … The “Cup Games” will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all set to take place in the first half of the season between May 14 and July 11, prior to the in-season scheduling break due to the Olympic Games.
2. The Basketball Africa League, a newly formed but one-year delayed organized pro league spanning the continent of Africa, will debut May 16. Both the International Basketball Federation and the NBA are providing full support to the endeavor which features 12 pro teams.
3. Not to be forgotten, the BAL’s and WNBA’s big brother, the National Basketball Association, will begin its 2021 NBA Playoffs with a “Play-In” tournament, a new and unproven concept to field the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in each of the two NBA conferences. Gone is the NBA Bubble in Orlando and the 2021 playoffs will take place with a limited number of fans in each home arena, depending mostly on State and local government rules and authorities.
4. A couple weeks down the road, the European “EuroLeague” Basketball Final Four will be staged in Cologne, Germany on Friday, May 28 and Sunday, May 30. The competing four teams include CSKA Moscow vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul, and AX Armani Exchange Milano vs. FC Barcelona
5. As summer approaches, the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Men and Women will be staged to determine the final national teams to compete in Tokyo. Those qualifiers will be played from June 29 to July 4th, a few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics begin (July 25th) with Iran facing a qualifier to be determined later. The delayed Olympic tournament will run through the gold medal game scheduled for Saturday, August 7 at the Saitama Super Arena, the “Brooklyn” to Tokyo’s “NYC.”

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DAKAR – (Source: Official FIBA News Release) – The Basketball Africa League (BAL) announced that the league’s historic inaugural season will tip off Sunday, May 16 at the Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, with 12 teams from the continent of Africa competing in the new professional league.

The BAL, a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA Regional Office Africa has organized on the continent and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America. The first BAL Finals will be held Sunday, May 30.

The BAL has created robust health and safety protocols for the 12 teams and personnel traveling to Rwanda, based on guidance from the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, with advice from public health officials and medical experts.

“We are thrilled that the inaugural Basketball Africa League season will take place at the world-class Kigali Arena,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “Through the BAL, we will provide a platform for elite players from across the continent to showcase their talent and inspire fans of all ages, use basketball as an economic growth engine across Africa, and shine a light on Africa’s vibrant sporting culture.”

“We are extremely happy to finally launch the highly anticipated first season of the BAL,” said FIBA Africa and BAL Board President Anibal Manave. “FIBA and the NBA have been working closely together to develop protocols to address the health and safety of all players, coaches and officials. The experience of hosting the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers in Rwanda late last year will contribute to a safe and successful inaugural BAL season.”

The league today also announced an adjusted competition format for the inaugural season, which will feature a total of 26 games at the Kigali Arena. The competition will tip off with an 18-game group phase with the 12 teams divided into three groups of four. During the group phase, each team will face the three other teams in its group once. The top eight teams from the group phase will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single elimination in all three rounds.

Below are the 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will compete in the inaugural BAL season:

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