NAIROBI, Kenya, February 11, 2026 – Nairobi City Thunder (NCT) head coach Brad Ibs is optimistic of reaching the latter stages of this year’s Basketball Africa League (BAL).
The national champions will be making their second appearance at the continental competition and Ibs says NCT will be a ‘different breed’ this time round.
” I think you’ll see a lot of continuity and cohesiveness with our group and then I think similarly with our BAL squad. I think like Colin (Rasmussen) mentioned earlier, I think we learned a lot from our first experience. I think we’ve taken those lessons to heart and I think you’ll see just a much more kind of cohesive and competitive group that will play deep into the BAL,” the American said.
NCT made their debut at the prestigious competition in the past year, where crumbled in the Nile Conference.
They finished fourth in the group after losses to Rwanda’s APR, South Africa’s Made By Basketball (MBB) and Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya — before beating MBB 85-76 in their penultimate fixture.
The final of this year’s edition will be held on May 31 at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda and NCT will be praying to be among the finalists.
However, they will first need to finish in the top eight of the Sahara Conference where they will face five other teams.
On the local front, NCT have been peerless, effortlessly clinching their second consecutive league title after pulverising Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) with a 3-0 series win.
They will be eyeing a three-peat when the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Premier League 2026 season tips off this weekend.
As per his strategy for the league, Ibs says he will not fix what’s not broken.
“I think another very exciting year of Thunder Basketball. I think we really feel good and confident about continuing to be dominant in our local league. I think with such a large core group of players coming back, it feels like more of a season of refinement more than adding a lot of new thing,” Ibs said.
