The National Basketball Association has revealed that it will launch a league in Africa, called the Basketball Africa League, in January next year. The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will see twelve professional teams from across the continent will vie for supremacy. Six teams will come from Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco – countries with a strong basketball heritage and robust talent pools, infrastructure and fan interest.

According to Amadou Gallo Fall, vice-president and managing director of NBA Africa and newly announced president of the Basketball Africa League, the other six will qualify via a FIBA-run tournament organised between September and October. Fall, a former scout and director of player personnel for the Dallas Mavericks in the US, says that the new league will build on the substantial efforts that the NBA has put into grassroots development in Africa over the last decade.

Fall believes that the NBA’s focus on African talent will help to foster a strong connection with fans. Thirteen African-born players were on NBA rosters at the start of 2018-19 season, while 10 players from the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Africa program have been drafted into the NBA since 2003.