Spotlight on African basketball talent and milestones as NBA’s 2024/25 season takes off

An NBA season packed with African talent and colourful courts is underway, with games available via livestream. The NBA’s 2024/25 season features a record-tying 17 African players and even more players who have at least one African parent.

Bonface Orucho, bird story agency

The NBA’s 2024/2025 season has tipped off, promising fans worldwide a thrilling feast of hoops action – and with a record number of African players on the courts, African fans have more reason to follow the season action.

According to a press statement by the NBA ahead of the season, which commenced on October 22, “a record-tying 17 players from Africa are among the 125 international players from 43 countries across six continents on opening-night rosters.”

Cameroon takes the lead in player representation this season, showcasing stars like Pascal Siakam, Joel Embiid, and three other talents. Nigeria follows closely with four players, while the DRC and Mali each have two. Angola, Senegal, South Sudan, and Sudan round out the list, each contributing one player to the league’s global roster.

“There are also more than 35 players with at least one parent from an African country,” the NBA revealed in the statement.

These include three-time NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo, who is with the Miami Heat with ties to Nigeria, and two-time Kia NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, besides being Greek, who has ties to Nigeria.

Also, the 2023-24 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, with the San Antonio Spurs, is French but has ties to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Besides the heavy representation of players of African descent in the top basketball league globally, a sign of the progress the sport has made in Africa, the new season marks an achievement of unique milestones for African players.

This year’s lineup sees African players participating and excelling at the sport’s highest level, for instance, with Joel Embiid of Cameroon securing the coveted MVP title for the 2022-23 season. Embiid is among the top MVP favorites according to the latest pre-season NBA GM Survey.

Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo have consistently ranked among the league’s top three players for three consecutive seasons. Alongside `stars like Pascal Siakam of Cameroon and Andrew Wiggins, a Canadian with African roots, these players form a core group of international All-Stars whose presence in the NBA reflects African athletes’ growing prowess and influence in the league.

African players have become staples on All-NBA Teams, with at least five international players, including African stars, achieving this honor since 2018-19.

NBA has in recent years, intensified its basketball development efforts across Africa, viewing the continent as a cornerstone of its international expansion. This commitment is evident in its investments in infrastructure and grassroots player development programs.

In the latest move, for instance, NBA alongside Opportunity International, a global nonprofit organization, announced a collaboration to build 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, including 100 in Kenya. They will also conduct youth clinics in Nairobi and Kigali beginning 2025.

The 2024/25 NBA season will feature the Emirates NBA Cup, a multi-stage tournament whose Group Play kicks off on Tuesday, November 12, when the New York Knicks visit the Philadelphia 76ers. The Golden State Warriors will then host the Dallas Mavericks later that night.

This week, the NBA unveiled 30 custom-painted courts in which each team will play the tournament.

According to the NBA, the unique courts will be used in both Group Play and the Quarterfinals, emphasizing a league-wide aesthetic that distinguishes the competition.

“The colors of the courts are designed to contrast with the home teams’ Nike NBA
Statement Edition uniforms, while road teams will wear Nike NBA Association Edition uniforms.”

Both regular season and tournament games will be streamed on the new NBA App which has been revamped with new features. Leading the way is NBA Insights, an AI-powered tool powered by Microsoft Azure that analyzes the game in real-time. The app can be downloaded at https://global.nba.com/nba-apps/index.html?

Additionally, content on the NBA App throughout the season will incorporate “Dunk Score,” an AI-calculated grade for in-game dunks in real-time based on a breadth of factors including the player’s jumping distance, style and force at the rim, and defensive efforts from the opposing team.

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