While some may dismiss it as “brash American talk”, the NBA’s goal to make basketball the No 1 sport in South Africa and the rest of the continent is far from idealistic.
Football, rugby, cricket and athletics continue to hog the headlines, but the NBA is steadily broadening its footprint across Africa and is leaning heavily on the coolness factor attached to the league to attract the youth to basketball. “It’s going to be hard,” said NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum.
“There are no short cuts. We have to start young with that next generation, inspire them to play the game, because if kids end up playing basketball, they are more likely to end up being a fan.”
Bringing the fourth season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) to South Africa for the first time is a vital part of the NBA’s goal of growing the sport in this country. “Events like this, having the BAL experience here, will inspire the youth to hopefully bounce a basketball instead of kicking a football or picking up a rugby ball,” said Tatum, who is in SA for the opening weekend of the league.
“The fact that NBA games are globally distributed has seen the game’s appeal increase among the youth, whether that be in Asia, Europe, Africa or South Africa. The players, the lifestyle, the culture of the NBA has become so much more accessible to a global audience.
“It doesn’t surprise me that fans in South Africa feel the same way fans in France or Brazil do. The game has become so available and the culture of the NBA and style is omnipresent.”
Rather than have that experience only through television or cellphones and tablets, the NBA’s initiation of the BAL, in conjunction with the International Basketball Federation (Fiba), was the logical next step given how well its development programmes had worked throughout Africa.
Launching leagues is hard. This is the only place outside of North America where we have launched a league
— Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner
“The BAL has a critical dimension to what we are trying to do on the continent, which is create that pathway from youth basketball and the junior NBA programmes into our Basketball Without Borders programmes and into our NBA Academy,” said Tatum.
“Now with the BAL, youth on the continent have an opportunity to go from the grassroots, right to the professional level without leaving their countries or the continent. That is a powerful thing to create that ecosystem here.”
The success of Joel Embiid, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player last season, and Pascal Siakam, an NBA championship winner with the Toronto Raptors in 2019 — who are both graduates of the Basketball Without Borders programme — offers tangible examples to youngsters that playing in the NBA is not impossible.
“The pleasant surprise, quite frankly, has been how quickly the talent has grown in this league, how quickly the infrastructure and investment in local leagues and local clubs who want to compete in this competition, has occurred. The fact that we now have five new teams, three new countries in the fourth season of the BAL, is incredible.”
Tatum said the league’s growth has exceeded the expectations the NBA had when it was first announced six years ago. “Launching leagues is hard. This is the only place outside of North America where we have launched a league.”
It’s not just the basketball but the interest it has generated from African governments and corporate backers which has also surprised Tatum. Countries, including Nigeria — which is building a 10,000-seater arena in Lagos — and Benin, are investing in infrastructure so that they can host the BAL in the future.
“I think the growth has been fantastic, for us to now be in our fourth city, fourth country in the fourth season, is testament to the popularity of the sport, and our ability to actually scale this,” said Tatum.
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