NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 24 – Concluding its fourth season, the Basketball Africa League (BAL) is already making an impact by producing players who are tipped to feature in the prestigious National Basketball Association (NBA).
Mark Tatum, the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer at NBA heaped praise on the 2024 BAL season that expanded its market to South Africa, seeing Angola’s Petro de Luanda crowned champions after defeating Libya’s Al Ahly Ly 107-94 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Khaman Maluach of South Sudan, who featured in the 2024 BAL season and Cameroonian Ulrich Chomche, who is in the NBA Academy emerged as prospects for the NBA draft.
“The level of competition was great, for the first time, we had future NBA players play in the Basketball Africa League competition. They were two players who are pretty much going to be NBA players according to experts, one of them is Maluach, who is from South Sudan set to play for the Duke, he is projected to be a next year top draft lottery pick. The South Sudanese team will compete in the Olympics this Summer, so you will see lots of him,” Tatum, addressing global journalist before the 2024 NBA Finals, remarked.
Maluach turned out for Uganda’s City Oilers in the 2024 BAL season while Chomche labeled as the best Cameroonian prospect of his generation, and the best since Joel Embiid, was scheduled to play for Rwanda’s APR, but was left out of their roster for the Sahara Conference in Dakar since he was preparing for this month’s NBA Draft.
The NBA Draft 2024 first round is slated for Wednesday, June 26 while round 2 is scheduled for Thursday, June 27.
-NBA Game in Africa one day? –
Meanwhile, Tatum hinted that with the right facilities in place, Africa might witness its maiden NBA Game in Africa.
“The Fourth Season of the BAL in Kigali showcased an incredible season, we expanded to four different market this year for the first time adding South Africa. Our attendance doubled where we had over 120,000 people attending the games in those four different markets,” Tatum explained.
“Our vision is that we will go away from our current model and see teams play on home and away basis, but first is to have appropriate facilities across the continent. New arena projects are set to be constructed in places like Nigeria, Kenya and Benin, so we are starting to see more investments in the game of basketball. Having the right facilities in place is critical to encourage the hosting of an NBA pre-season game in Africa, so it’s coming.”
