There is an 8,692-mile difference between Milwaukee and Pretoria, South Africa. That won’t stop first-year Milwaukee Bucks scouting coordinator Ijeoma “Ejay” Ofomata from keeping track of the Basketball Africa League, her former employer, when the 2024 season begins Saturday in Pretoria.

“It’s bittersweet. I’m not going to lie. But at least I know that I contributed to it before I left,” Ofomata told Andscape in a recent interview via the Zoom platform. “I finished developing the schedule and everything and we had identified the markets that we were going to play in. So, I feel good knowing that I was able to still contribute to the first time we’ll be going into four markets in the league for the BAL.

“I’m rooting for them every part of the way. As you can see, I’m still saying ‘us’ because it would always be part of me. I don’t think I’m leaving it.”

Say hello to Ofomata, a Nigerian woman who is the first executive from the BAL to work for an NBA team.

Ofomata served as the BAL’s senior manager of basketball operations and team management from 2020 through the 2023 season. BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall said Ofomata was instrumental in helping the BAL debut in 2021 after its inaugural season was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. She was hired by the Bucks as a scouting coordinator in 2023 to scout all levels of basketball.

“I’m highly humbled and I’m grateful,” Ofomata said. “I’m grateful to God that he aligned my steps to come in contact with everybody that I’ve been in contact with to be able to make this happen. I hope that a lot more people would see that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. As we say, ‘The grind pays off and the hustle pays off.’ ”

The 2024 BAL season begins on Saturday with two games in new host Pretoria under Fall’s guidance.

There will 12 teams from 12 African countries playing in preliminary games in Pretoria, Cairo, and Dakar, Senegal. The playoffs and the championship game will take place in Kigali, Rwanda. With the addition of Pretoria, the BAL is playing in four different African cities for the first time.

“I can’t stop giving respect to Amadou Gallo Fall because he deserves it,” Ofomata said. “This is the vision he’s had for so long to provide a platform for the young Africans to go to NCAA colleges to play basketball. And for those who don’t get a chance to go to Europe or the NBA, there is still an opportunity to come back to Africa and play professionally. And I would say that starting from in the bubble in Rwanda 2021 to now going into where we are in 2024, you are in different markets, it’s grown tremendously …

“Initially, no one knew what it was. Everyone was so skeptical. But then as you continue to grow, people continue to buy into it. Most importantly, they love the idea that provides a platform and an opportunity for young Africans, whether in the diaspora or in Africa, to come and have a professional career and also allow the diasporan to come back and learn more about the cultures of different African countries.”

Said Bucks general manager Jon Horst: “To have a well-run established league that really gives access to professional basketball for all the African countries over there that is really supported by the partnership with the NBA, it’s pretty cool. Amadou Gallo Fall has done an unbelievable job.”

Ofomata, 38, adored tennis during her youth in Nigeria. She was persuaded to begin playing basketball at age 16 at the University of Nigeria Secondary School, Nsukka in Nigeria, when the girls team desperately needed players. She picked up the sport fast, fell in love with it and developed further for two years at a prep school in England.

“I didn’t know nothing about basketball, but as a true athlete, you just want to compete either way, it doesn’t matter what it is,” Ofomata said. “So, I think the minute I picked up that ball, every other thing became secondary to basketball.”

A highlight video from her prep school impressed the coaching staff of Division II Central State University in Ohio and she was offered an athletic scholarship in 2005. Ofomata was not only coming to America to play basketball, but also to play at a historically Black university. Central State was founded in 1887 by African Americans “who sought to liberate others through knowledge.”

Before Ofomata attended Central State, her only knowledge of HBCUs came from watching movies such as Stomp The Yard and Drumline. Along with starring in basketball in college, she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2009 in U.S. politics and learned about African American history. She also later earned a master’s degree in international business from London South Bank University.

“Being able to go to a college full of African Americans, it was different,” Ofomata said. “But I was really excited about it. That was the best decision I ever made in my life because it made me who I am today. You go to an HBCU, you’re not just the statistic, you are an individual. You are yourself. You understand more about what you bring to the table.

“We were being prepared for the real life, but at the same time, it had a family feel. You had your own little family and community. And even up till now, I’m still close to my college teammates and college friends. It was a great experience.”

“Ijeoma’s pathway is a shining example of what this league is all about – providing opportunities for African talents to excel on and off the court.” — Amadou Gallo Fall

After graduating from Central State, Ofomata played pro basketball for 12 years in the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Spain, Malta and Corsica. Ofomata also worked at Basketball Without Borders Africa camps in South Africa and Senegal as a volunteer coach, and at the SEED Academy Hoop Forum in Senegal. In August 2020, Ofomata was hired as a basketball operations liaison as the BAL was planned to launch. The BAL was founded in 2019, but, due to the coronavirus pandemic, didn’t have its inaugural season until 2021.

With the BAL, Ofomata managed game operations, implemented player disciplines and rules, directed the BAL Elevate (elite youth boys) program draft process and communicated with BAL teams. She also planned and executed the BAL combine, including the one held last year in Paris, with potential players, coaches and scouts. Ofomata was promoted to BAL senior manager of basketball operations in June 2023.

“Ejay made history with us with the launch of the BAL in 2021. She was a key pillar on our league operations team as the basketball ops lead,” Fall told Andscape. “She gained a wealth of experience working with players, coaches and managing basketball operations during our first three seasons. Ijeoma’s pathway is a shining example of what this league is all about – providing opportunities for African talents to excel on and off the court.”

When asked what she was most proud of about her BAL days, Ofomata said: “We literally had to start from nowhere and just run in basketball ops. You have to do everything. You have to go to the different African countries to get their buy-in to understand where they are at the moment in their understanding of the game, what is needed to help them to improve, which is part of the coaches clinics that happen in different countries.”

The Bucks appear to be the BAL’s biggest advocate since its inception.

In 2022, the Bucks connected with the BAL in hopes of adding a coach and player to their summer league team. With Ofomata’s help, the Bucks added Cameroonian coach Francois Enyegue and Central African Republic forward Evans Ganapamo to their 2022 summer league team. In 2023, the Bucks added Angolan coach Sergio Cristovao and Malian center Aliou Diarra to their summer league team.

“Why wouldn’t we try to connect with the folks with the Basketball Africa League and just make an offer?” Horst said. “We’re not really seeking anything out of it except to be another advocate for the program, advocate for the people and see if they would be willing to or wanted to send anyone over to be part of our program. And so, we talked about it internally and we set up a couple of calls and basically just said, ‘Hey, we would love to have a coach and a player be part of our summer league program, and we don’t have any real parameters on it.’

“You can use it as whatever benefit you want. You can reward high achieving coach, high achieving player. It could be a top prospect, it can really be whatever you want to do. We just want to host folks from your league within our program, and we’d love to do that with you.”

Said Ofomata: “With the Bucks being pioneers of bringing on the player and the coach from the coaches development program, we had kept in touch because they did it two years in a row.”

Intrigued by Ofomata, the Bucks invited her to training camp before the 2022-23 season. After making a strong impression, Bucks vice president of global scouting Ryan Hoover interviewed her for their scouting coordinator position. Once the job was offered, Ofomata made sure she got a blessing from Fall before accepting.

“We hired her as our scouting coordinator and wanted to give her a position of exposure early so that she can grow, so she can get her hands on a lot of different things, see a lot of different things. And I’m probably biased to it because it’s part of how I’ve grown and learned in the business,” Horst said.

There is a 2021 NBA championship banner hanging in the rafters of the Bucks’ practice facility. There is a Nigerian flag hanging as well, which always reminds Ofomata about where she has come from and how far she has come from Africa to the NBA.

“It feels good to come into the office and to see a Nigerian banner hanging next to the championship banner,” Ofomata said. “It’s a privilege to be part of such a renowned organization, to watch the players when they practice, to just be able to see the growth of the team and the success. It feels great.”