The NBA’s development league and South Sudan’s incredible feat; the latest in African basketball.

The NBA’s developmental G League features heavily in this week’s African basketball roundup, with Central African Republic’s Thierry Darlan choosing the G League and G League players starring in this season’s Basketball Africa League (BAL). Also in the news: the world’s newest country qualifies for the FIBA World Cup.

by Silalei Shani, bird story agency

When NBA Academy Africa point guard Thierry Darlan recently revealed he would be joining the NBA developmental team G League Ignite, over a host of college offers, he finally put to rest concerns over his 2023 career plans.

Despite scholarship offers from top basketball colleges like Arizona, Kansas, and Santa Clara and being NBA draft eligible this year, Darlan chose to go the route of the NBA development league. The league was previously named the NBA Development League, or D League until a Gatorade sponsorship, starting in the 2017-2018 season.

“Many NCAA programs called me. I’m thankful for their interest, but I think my game is more fit to a pro game than a college game,” Darlan said.

While African players have mostly dominated frontcourt positions, the 6’7 player from Central Africa Republic’s position as a point guard makes him a rare commodity to come out of the continent.

“Ultimately, the plan is to get to the NBA, but I will follow the lead of the G League Ignite coaching staff. At NBA Academy Africa, I first started as a shooting guard and then I was shifted to the point guard position. I think I’m able to play both and I’m not afraid to continue to learn and try new things,” said Darlan, who has a 7’1 wingspan.

I’m not thinking about staying a year or more. I’m only thinking about my next practice or my next game, and it has to be better than the last one, said Darlan.

G League Ignite currently has two other NBA Academy Africa alum on their roster this season; Efe Abogidi from Nigeria and Babacar Sane from Senegal.

The G League is also a feature of Africa’s premier basketball league. The BAL’s third season officially got underway on Saturday, March 11th, with the Sahara Conference hosting six teams in a 15-game schedule at Dakar Arena in Senegal.

This year’s season is particularly exciting with the inclusion of players with G League experience, led by Jerome Randle (US Monastir), who features for the Texas Legends and the Maine Celtics, and Zaire Wade, the son of NBA Legend Dwayne Wade. The 6’1 guard, who previously played for the Salt Lake City Stars, is playing for the Cape Town Tigers.

This is a testament to the profile of the Basketball Africa League, which continues to set a high professional standard for basketball tournaments on the continent. 12 basketball clubs from across the continent will fight it out to lift the BAL trophy on May 27th in Kigali.

Meanwhile, the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, officially qualified for this year’s FIBA World Cup, slated to take place this summer. They entered the final qualifiers run off of an 8-1-win record and only needed to win one more game to qualify.

Qualification came with a 83-75 win over Senegal, helped by power forward Nuni Omot, with a team-high 26 points.

South Sudan joins Cote D’Ivoire, who qualified during the previous window of the campaign.

The team is led by two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng who has been praised for his unwavering determination to bring history to South Sudan’s basketball team.

The event, held at the Al Ittihad Stadium in Alexandria, was tainted by the fact that no fans were allowed to watch the game. Fans, many of whom had travelled from other countries, were turned away at the gates, and numerous fans were forced to wait during the entire game and watch on their phones.

In the post-game press conference, Deng shared his displeasure.

“This morning we woke up and the fans were outside. They stood there the entire game, they were not allowed. This is a great story and we’ve been robbed today from celebrating with our fans who came all the way out here,” he said.

“That’s the biggest disappointment that I have. We make history, and our fans are not allowed on the day of making it”, he said.

/bird story agency.