[Sports News\Africa Basketball]
The Basketball Africa League is a joint effort between the NBA and FIBA (International Basketball Federation) which announced this formation on February 16, 2019. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked about the establishment of the BAL in a press conference during the 2019 NBA All-Star weekend. Silver hinted former President Barack Obama–who is said to be an avid supporter of this initiative–will play an important role.
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Amadou Gallo Fall will oversee the new Basketball Africa League (BAL) which will start its inaugural season in March 2020.
This week, the new Basketball Africa League (BAL) will hold its first BAL scouting combine at the Brooklyn Nets facility on Dec 4-5.
The Basketball Africa League Combine will take place at the Nets’ Hospital for Special Surgery Training athletic testing and five-on-five games in front of scouts, coaches, and African basketball executives. Former NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo will be the camp director and his staff will include former NBA coach Paul Westhead, former NBA player Theo Ratliff, former NBA player Charlie Bell, Angola men’s national head coach Will Voigt, and others. Some who will be in attendance will include: BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall, FIBA Africa President Anibal Manave, NBA Hall-of-Famer Dikembe Mutombo, and NBA two-time All-Star Luol Deng.
The Basketball Africa League is a joint effort between the NBA and FIBA (International Basketball Federation) which announced this formation on February 16, 2019. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked about the establishment of the BAL in a press conference during the 2019 NBA All-Star weekend. Silver hinted former President Barack Obama–who is said to be an avid supporter of this initiative–will play an important role, which has not yet been specified.
Prior to each BAL regular season, 12 teams will have to play through qualifying rounds to be allowed to play that season. Each team will have 12 active players and 4 inactive players on its roster. On October 15, 2019, qualifying tournaments for the inaugural March 2020 season began. 32 African countries participated. Some of the African countries who will probably host a team are: Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.
BAL’s inaugural season will hold games in places like Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; Lagos, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Rabat, Morocco; and Monastir, Tunisia.
In the inaugural season, the 12 teams will be divided into two conferences. At the end of the season, the top 3 teams from each conference will advance to the “Super 6” playoffs. In the Super 6, all teams play in a round-robin competition to decide which teams will qualify for the final four–which will be a single-elimination tournament to decide the BAL champion.
The first BAL Finals will take place in Kigali, Rwanda.
