By Ibrahim El-Shawarby
CAIRO, Feb.19 (SEE)- Perhaps one of the biggest announcements in the history of basketball. During All-Star weekend, it was announced that the NBA will now be partnering up with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to launch a brand new professional basketball league in Africa.
This is a huge development for the league as it attempts to broaden its global reach. According to Complex, 12 teams will be representing 9 countries including Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.
“The Basketball Africa League is an important next step in our continued development of the game of basketball in Africa,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver explained in a statement. “Combined with our other programs on the continent, we are committed to using basketball as an economic engine to create new opportunities in sports, media, and technology across Africa.”
In order to qualify, chosen teams will have to participate in a tournament, with the qualifiers making the jump to the brand new league. The teams being chosen already exist in their own leagues but are being given an opportunity to rise up. This is the first time the NBA has attempted a league of its kind.
The announcement of this new league was met with cheers, especially by former president Barack Obama who said "I’ve always loved basketball because it’s about building a team that’s equal to more than the sum of its parts. Glad to see this expansion into Africa because for a rising continent, this can be about a lot more than what happens on the court."
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