Paris Olympics show bright future for basketball in Africa

African basketball’s reputation is strengthening after impressive performances at the Paris Olympics. 

The technically adept South Sudan men’s team, who lost by only a point to the US men’s team in a warm up match in July, secured their first win at the Olympics with a 90-79 win over higher-ranked Puerto Rico. 

They put in spirited performances in defeats to the USA and Serbia, leading to a generous appraisal from Serbia’s Atlanta Hawks star Bogdan Bogdanovic, who said: “you can see the work is paying off.” 

The Nigerian women’s team caused major upsets early on in the tournament, beating higher-ranked Canada and Australia in the group stages, and becoming the first African basketball team to reach the quarterfinals of an Olympics, where they were defeated by the USA. 

Years in the making

African basketball’s arrival on the world stage is not just a fluke. Several organisations have been on the ground for decades attempting to grow the game on the continent, building courts and starting training camps and tournaments. 

In 2021, the sport was taken to the next level when the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) joined forces to create the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the NBA’s first competition outside the USA. 

The annual tournament is made up of the 12 best teams from across the continent. The play-offs of the fourth season of BAL, packed with yelling spectators, African presidents, and performances from famous musicians, were held this May at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda. After an exciting tournament, Angola’s Petro de Luanda took the title with a win over Libya’s Al-Ahly Ly.

Speaking to African Business, Gbemisola Abudu, vice president of NBA Africa, insists that the BAL “is already a world-class league.” 

“What the BAL is doing is extremely transformational, we are giving Africans an opportunity to stay on the continent, to play on the continent. It’s becoming that thing that everyone wants to be a part of,” says Abudu. 

“Since we opened an office in 2022 in Nigeria, we have had two mandates, increase the footprint of basketball, and the footprint of the NBA.” 

In the 2023 season, attendance grew 51%, with more than 40,000 fans attending the 30 group phase games, according to organisers. Furthermore, the league announced earlier this year that the 2024 season would reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages through free-to-air and paid broadcast partnerships.  

During a news conference held at the 2023 finals in Kigali, Visit Rwanda, a founding partner of the BAL, estimated that the league’s games generated nearly $10m in additional revenue for Rwanda’s economy including hotels, tour operators, marketing, and events planning companies. 

Challenges remain – the NBA is investing a significant amount of money in a tournament which remains a minority interest compared to soccer’s English Premier League. The long-term viability of the league will depend on attracting ever larger audiences and retaining the interest of corporate sponsors.  

The NBA’s famed media and digital savvy has been wielded to promote the sport to new audiences. NBA Africa’s YouTube channel says it experienced a significant uptick in viewer engagement during the 2023-24 NBA regular season. Views on their channel more than doubled in the 2023/24 season compared to the previous season. 

It is not just African viewers who are being enticed to the sport. Driving global interest into African basketball is a key goal of the media channels. And players with strong ties to Africa in the NBA have also played their part in promoting the sport to a global audience.

“You see Joel Embid, OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, Giannis Antetokounmpo, all of these players in the NBA are helping to catalyse interest in basketball across the continent. It’s happening with music too,” says Abudu.  

Three players from BAL represented South Sudan in the Olympics, and one of them, Khaman Maluach (pictured above), is set to be the hottest prospect for the 2025 NBA draft. 

Not only are current NBA players putting the spotlight on Africa, but former African NBA players are returning to help the sport in many capacities. Luol Deng, who played 15 seasons in the NBA and represented Great Britain at the Olympics, now serves as the president of South Sudan’s basketball federation.

Bigger than basketball

Abudu sees the work of the NBA as a “perfect marriage between business and development.” 

Part of the strategy of NBA Africa is to deepen its influence in Africa through surprising events and tie-ups. This year, NBA Africa launched a startup accelerator which aims to support African tech entrepreneurs in sports and creative industries with mentorship and capital. The organisation has run educational initiatives, training camps and youth schemes to drive interest in the sport and give young Africans new creative outlets. 

It’s social work has received the endorsement of major global figures – in 2021, The former US president Barack Obama joined NBA Africa as a strategic partner and minority investor, in order to “help advance the league’s social responsibility efforts across the continent, including programs and partnerships that support greater gender equality and economic inclusion.”  

“By investing in communities, promoting gender equality, and cultivating the love of the game of basketball, I believe that NBA Africa can make a difference for so many of Africa’s young people,” he said at the time.   

After an encouraging first few years, Abudu says there is a huge amount to play for. And she is not shy about the league’s stratospheric ambitions.   

“I see what we are doing here as a tool for nation building and social development.”