Basketball Africa League is in a great state - Zeph Masote

Basketball Africa League (BAL) was launched in 2021 as a joint effort by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to establish a professional basketball league on the African continent. 

Speaking to SABC Sport, Masote reflected on the league’s growth, saying the increased number of spectators at BAL 2026 could serve as a yardstick to measure the league's progress and the growing interest in Basketball across the continent. 

“Year by year, the growth is earth-shattering, we are breaking records every year. This year, we had more than 38000 people come through to SunBet Arena. That is testament of people, young people getting into the game and it's not only in South Africa, we went to Morocco – the same thing happened – and again, we had exhilarating play-offs and finals in Rwanda. So, the Basketball Africa League is in a great state, and we are looking forward to a wonderful season 7 next year.” said Masote

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Masote also challenged corporates to partner with NBA South Africa to develop the necessary infrastructure to grow the sport even further.

“The message that we always send is we are here, we are open for business. We already do quite a bit, so we’ve already built a few courts in the country. We invite corporate South Africa and our local municipalities to come and hold hands with us for us to be able to extend this infrastructure project.”