‘Tana AiyejinaThe NBA and FIBA jointly announced their plan Saturday afternoon to launch a basketball league featuring 12 club teams across Africa – marking the first time the NBA will be part of the operation of a league outside of North America. “The Basketball Africa League is an important next step in our continued development of the game of basketball in Africa,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Combined with our other programmes on the continent, we are committed to using basketball as an economic engine to create new opportunities in sports, media and technology across Africa.”The new league, which will be called the Basketball Africa League, or BAL, will be built upon existing team competitions FIBA is already organizing in Africa. There will be no more than two teams from any single country in the league. “On FIBA’s behalf, it’s a huge joy to see our partnership with the NBA enter unchartered territory as we work together for the first time to maximise the potential of professional basketball in Africa,” FIBA Secretary General AndreasZagklis said.

Source: Punch February 17, 2019 23:03 UTC