The NBA’s Basketball Africa League will return for its third season in March.
The BAL will return to Dakar, Senegal; Cairo; and Kigali, Rwanda, as the sites for its 38 games during the 2023 season. It will again feature the 12 top club champions from 12 African countries beginning play in Dakar on March 11.
The Sahara Conference will play a 15-game group phase at the Dakar Arena in Dakar from March 11-21. The Nile Conference will play a 15-game group phase at the Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo from April 26 to May 6. The top four teams from the Sahara and Nile will advance to an eight-game, single elimination playoffs and finals at BK Arena in Kigali from May 21-27.
“We are superexcited to welcome back our fans in Dakar, Cairo, and Kigali for the 2023 BAL season building on the great success of our first two seasons,” BAL president Amadou Fall told Andscape. “We are looking forward to writing another chapter in basketball’s growth on our beautiful continent.”
The participating BAL teams qualified through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent from October through November. One NBA Academy Africa prospect from the BAL Elevate program will join each of the 12 BAL teams for the second straight season.
Current G League Ignite forward Babacar Sane was an NBA Academy Africa prospect who played in the BAL last season.
Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn’t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.
