The Basketball Africa League will begin the 2024 season on March 9 in Pretoria, South Africa.
The 2024 BAL season will feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries playing a record 48 games with preliminary action from the Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, the Nile Conference in Cairo and the Sahara Conference in Dakar, Senegal. The top two teams from each of the three conferences and the top two third-place teams will travel to Kigali, Rwanda, for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination playoffs and finals from May 24 through June 1. This is the first time since the start of the BAL in 2020 that games will be played at four African sites.
“We are thrilled to play the first BAL games in Pretoria, South Africa, and to return to Dakar, Cairo and Kigali, where we’ve seen tremendous fan engagement over the past three seasons,” said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall in a statement.
Former Rwanda Energy Group coach Robert Pack, a former NBA guard and assistant coach, will also serve as the BAL combine camp director at the BAL Combine in Rabat, Morocco, from Friday through Sunday. The first BAL combine in Africa will feature 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the United States and other countries. The BAL has had combines in New York City and Paris.
Prospects will take part in anthropometric and athletic testing, positional skill development, and 5-on-5 games in front of team executives, coaches and scouts. BAL ambassador and former NBA center Ian Mahinmi is slated to attend the combine.
“African players are passionate about the game, they work hard, and their skill level is catching up to the athleticism,” Pack told Andscape in a phone interview from Morocco. “I see the future of African basketball being very bright.”
