CNN
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March 11 marks the start of the Basketball Africa League, the continent's premier basketball competition. Ahead of the third season, President Amadou Gallo Fall reflected on the rise of the sport on the continent. “This has been an evolutionary journey,” he said.
This year's competition will be held over three months, starting in the Senegalese capital and Paul's hometown Dakar, with 12 teams from across Africa participating.
The first BAL season, which began in 2019 as a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and finally took place in 2021. It was the culmination of nearly a quarter of work Fall had been doing. century.
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While studying in the United States on a basketball scholarship in 1998, Fall founded the SEED Project (Sports for Education and Economic Development), a non-profit organization that uses basketball as a platform to engage youth in academic, athletic and leadership programs. He later participated in the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program, which develops players from countries outside the United States, and the opening of the NBA's Africa office in 2010.
“Every program we have launched is a milestone that ultimately leads to the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.
![Pascal Siakam 1 African Voice Screen Capture](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230313154215-pascal-siakam-1-african-voices-screengrab.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_850,c_fill)
African basketball stars pave the way for young players
These initiatives will help introduce more young Africans to the sport and provide them with the opportunity to pursue a basketball career on the continent.
“The best players always hope to make it to the NBA. That's what we want. But if they don’t make it to the NBA, we want to make sure their next best option is right here,” Fall added.
At the start of the 2022-2023 season, NBA rosters included 16 players born in Africa, with 35 players having at least one African parent.
When the Toronto Raptors faced the Philadelphia 76ers last October, it was the first time three Cameroonian players – Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Christian Coloco – who participated in the Basketball Without Borders camp shared an NBA court.
![Christian Coloco of the Toronto Raptors shoots a free throw against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on November 19, 2022.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230309122235-03-nba-african-basketball-players-2023-gallery-restricted.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
It was a historic moment for African Basketball and Raptors rookie center Koloko.
“It was one of my first games in the NBA,” he recalled. “I was like wow. There are actually three Cameroonians at the same time. Embiid was one of my favorite players growing up,” he says.
That admiration is shared by others. Embiid was ranked as the third player most likely to win MVP this year in an NBA survey of general managers around the league.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri grew up in Nigeria and became the first African general manager in American professional sports when he joined the Denver Nuggets in 2010. He joined the Raptors in 2013 and won an NBA championship with them in 2019. The team's current roster includes eight Africans, more than any other team in the NBA.
Ujiri believes there is a unique opportunity as the only NBA team based outside of the United States. “I think Toronto is global. We are the team of the world,” he says.
Nonetheless, he is committed to growing the game on his home continent. His Giants of Africa nonprofit has hosted basketball camps for more than 5,000 children in 16 African countries since 2003 and is currently on a mission to build 100 basketball courts across the continent.
![Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers walks past Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on February 27, 2023.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230309122232-02-nba-african-basketball-players-2023-gallery.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
It is also in line with the NBA and BAL's efforts to create an ecosystem for nurturing talent in Africa. The rosters of the 12 BAL teams this season include 12 players from NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Salih, Senegal.
Raptors Cameroon striker Siakam believes the future is bright for African talent. “We all know this is an amazing thing we are accomplishing,” he says. “In the end, Africa wins.”
Take a look at the gallery above to see African stars in the NBA.