NBA Africa : The Story So Far

L'équipe de la rédaction d'Africa Top Sports




The US and Africa have held a long-standing relationship when it comes to basketball. Back in 1984, Hakeem Olajuwon from Nigeria joined the NBA to become the first African NBA player. This opened the door to a string of other African professional basketballers to make the switch to the most-watched basketball league in the world. This relationship has developed further with the creation of NBA Africa and Barrack Obama as a strategic partner for the inaugural competition.

What is NBA Africa?

The Basketball African league, also known as NBA Africa, is the product of a collaboration between the National Basketball League (USA) and the International Basketball Federation, also known as FIBA.

They have created a professional basketball league in Africa, which is fought out by professional players representing several African countries. However, these are not national teams but rather club teams that have won their local professional leagues, somewhat like the European Champions League competition in European football. As of last year, the annual competition includes 12 teams from 12 different countries. The first NBA title was won by the Egyptian team called Zamalek.

 

NBA Africa could grow to be a commercial success for a wide variety of industries and have a positive community impact. The NBA and other North American sports have been the focus of attention among many African countries and have attracted huge audiences from afar. These large local populations also have a huge appetite for sports betting and can usually be found watching or betting on NBA games in the USA.

 

Barrack Obama as NBA Africa Strategic Partner

Barrack Obama is known to be a huge basketball fan and in his younger days was somewhat of a talent. He won a high school state championship when growing up in Hawaii and played College basketball in California. He was even caught on camera sinking a three-pointer during Biden’s election campaign, and he was known to invite basketballers to play a game at the White House while he was US President.

So it was fitting that the basketball fan and favoured politician was given the role of strategic partner for NBA Africa. His main duties are to promote the competition while focusing on programmes and initiatives designed to improve social mobility, equality, participation, and economic standards across the continent.

NBA Africa six months later

Barrack Obama’s appointment as a strategic partner for the NBA was announced in the middle of 2021, around six months ago. So what has happened to NBA Africa since his announcement, and what work has been done?

A vast number of programmes are in play or being planned to continue the work of the league and help achieve sustainability and equality aims. Just one of the new programmes is NBA Africa and Rise, an initiative to identify talented young basketballers and give them an opportunity to develop and possibly become professional when they otherwise would have faced many barriers to do so.

 


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