2024 BAL season

The 2024 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 4, was the 4th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 9 March 2024 and ended with the final on 1 June 2024, which was played in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda for a fourth consecutive season.^[1]

This season the league was expanded to 48 games, and from two conferences to three conferences, as South Africa hosted the inaugural Kalahari Conference.^[2]

Al Ahly were the defending champions, having won the previous edition, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Al Ahly Ly.^[3] Petro de Luanda from Angola won their first BAL championship after defeating Al Ahly Ly from Libya in the final.^[4] As winners, Petro de Luanda, earned the right to play in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Venues

On 19 June 2023, the BAL and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) announced they agreed on a multi-year extension to their collaboration. Under the extension, it was agreed that the BK Arena in Kigali was to host the playoffs and finals in the 2024, 2026 and 2028 seasons.^[1]

On 5 January 2024, the host venues and schedule were announced. The SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa, was the fourth arena to host BAL games.^[5]

Format changes

The BAL expanded the total games in the season from 38 to 48. In the group phase, there were three conferences as the Kalahari Conference was added to the already existing Nile Conference and Sahara Conference. The number of teams in the conferences was decreased to four, with all teams playing each other twice. The top two teams and the two best third-placed teams advanced to the playoffs. Before the playoffs, the eight teams played seeding teams to determine their opponents in the single-elimination playoffs. This was the second time the match-ups in the playoffs were determined by seeding, with teams ranked 1 to 8, as this was last done in the inaugural season.^[2]

Qualification

Qualified teams

The six directly qualified teams were the champions of the national leagues of six pre-selected countries. The other six team qualified through the Road to BAL.

Directly Qualified (6)

• Al Ahly
• Petro de Luanda
• US Monastir
• APR
• AS Douanes
• Rivers Hoopers

Road to BAL (6)

• Bangui Sporting Club
• FUS Rabat
• Al Ahly Benghazi
• City Oilers
• Cape Town Tigers
• Dynamo

Road to BAL

The Road to BAL began on 3 October and ended on 26 November 2023. On 21 September 2023, FIBA announced the 20 teams that had registered to play in the first round, which was played in five groups.^[6] The final phase of the West Division was organised in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for a third time. Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted the East Division finals once again.^[7][8]

Chad was represented for the first time in tournament history, by Lamantins, however, the team forfeited during halftime of their first game.^[9]

Teams

Petro de Luanda were the first team to qualify, as they won the 2022–23 Angolan Basketball League on 19 April 2023.^[10]

APR, Al Ahly Ly, Bangui Sporting Club, Dynamo and FUS Rabat made their league debuts. Al Ahly Ly, Bangui Sporting Club and Dynamo were the first teams from Libya, the Central African Republic, and Burundi, respectively, to play in the BAL.

Personnel

Foreign and Elevate players

Each BAL team was allowed to have four foreign players on its roster, including only two non-African players. Players in italics were signed only for the playoffs. If players have multiple nationalities, the nationality of an African nation is shown.

Each team had one player from the NBA Academy Africa, under the "BAL Elevate" program. This year the league allocated the players to teams, a switch from the draft system used in the previous seasons.^[32] Players were allocated based on the following criteria, in order: "country of birth, country of nationality, country where majority of life was spent, past BAL team, country of past BAL team."^[32]

Notes:
* Playoffs only.
^ Player left the team after the conference phase.

Pre-season

For a second consecutive season, the BAL champions directly qualified for the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. At the 2023 Singapore edition, Al Ahly represented the league. Al Ahly finished in the fourth place, after previously beating the NBA G League Ignite to become the first African team to win a game in the competition's history.

The league hosted the third BAL Combine at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall in Rabat, Morocco, between 5 January and 7 January 2024. It was the first combine to be held on the African continent, after the previous editions were hosted in Paris and New York.^[5] A total of 30 players participated under combine director Robert Pack.^[5]

Schedule

The schedule for the 2024 season was officially released on 5 January 2024.^[5]

Conference phase

The conference phase was played between 9 March and 12 May 2024. The 12 teams of the conference phase were divided into three conferences. In addition to the Sahara Conference and Nile Conference, the inaugural Kalahari Conference took place.

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in the regular season was determined as follows:^[61][62]

1. Win-loss record;
2. Head-to-head record;
3. Point differential in the games between the respective teams;
4. Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams;
5. Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference;
6. Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference;
7. Drawing.

Kalahari Conference

The Kalahari Conference games began on 9 March and ended on 17 March 2024 and were played at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa. In the opening day game between Burundi's Dynamo and South Africa's Cape Town Tigers, the Burundian side taped off the logo of league sponsor Visit Rwanda. Political tensions between the two border nations Burundi and Rwanda had been rising, as Burundi has accused Rwanda of supporting the RED-Tabara rebel militia in the country.^[63][64] Dynamo forfeited their second game against FUS Rabat on 10 March, with the BAL citing "refusing to comply with the league’s rules governing jersey and uniform requirements" as the reason why.^[65] Following Dynamo's second forfeit on 12 March, the team was automatically withdrawn from the group as per FIBA rules.^[66] Dynamo players Bryton Hobbs and Makhtar Gueye stated that the Burundian government had prohibited the team to wear the logo and ordered the club to forfeit its games if necessary.^[63][67]

Nile Conference

Defending champions Al Ahly captured its first Nile Conference title,^[68] despite surprisingly losing one game to lower-ranked City Oilers.^[69] Al Ahly Ly edged out Bangui SC for the second place, winning the tiebreaker on head-to-head performance. City Oilers center Khaman Maluach, only 17 at the time, impressed by leading the league and blocks.^[70]

Sahara Conference

The Rivers Hoopers clinched the Sahara Conference title and qualified for their first playoff appearance, after having missed out in 2021.^[71] AS Douanes took the second place, while US Monastir advanced as one of the best-ranked third place teams. APR was eliminated after a loss to Douanes on the final gameday, becoming the first Rwandan team to fail to qualify for the playoffs.^[72]

Playoffs

The playoffs and finals were held from 24 May to 1 June 2024 in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.^[2] This was the first year in which seeding games are part of the playoffs.

Three out of four quarterfinal games were won by the lower seeded team. Petro de Luanda became the first team to reach four consecutive semi-finals, while the Al Ahly Ly, the Cape Town Tigers and the Rivers Hoopers made their semi-final debuts and became the first teams from Libya, South Africa and Nigeria, respectively, to qualify for the stage.^[73]

Seeding games

The seeding games between the eight teams that advanced from the group phase were played on 24 and 25 May.^[2] The match-ups were determined based on an aggregate ranking of all teams, with four pairings to decide the final seeds.

Individual awards

The winner of the Coach of the Year award was announced before the third-place game on 31 May. Following the final on 1 June, the remaining awards were announced.^[74] Jo Lual-Acuil became the first player to win both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards, as well as the first player on a losing team to be named MVP.^[74]

• Most Valuable Player: Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly
• Defensive Player of the Year: Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly
• Coach of the Year: Ogoh Odaudu, Rivers Hoopers
• Sportsmanship Award: Will Perry, Rivers Hoopers
• Ubuntu Award: Alkaly Ndour, AS Douanes^[75]

• All-BAL First Team
  • G Chris Crawford, US Monastir
  • G Will Perry, Rivers Hoopers
  • F Samkelo Cele, Cape Town Tigers
  • C Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly
  • C Aliou Diarra, FUS Rabat

• All-BAL Second Team
  • G Abdoulaye Harouna, AS Douanes
  • G Ehab Amin, Al Ahly
  • G Kelvin Amayo, Rivers Hoopers
  • F Devine Eke, Rivers Hoopers
  • C Majok Deng, Al Ahly Ly

• BAL All-Defensive First Team
  • G Solo Diabate, Al Ahly Ly
  • G Abdoulaye Harouna, AS Douanes
  • F Samkelo Cele, Cape Town Tigers
  • C Aliou Diarra, FUS Rabat
  • C Jo Lual-Acuil, Al Ahly Ly

• BAL All-Defensive Second Team^[76]
  • G Childe Dundão, Petro de Luanda
  • G Jean Jacques Boissy, AS Douanes
  • G Kelvin Amayo, Rivers Hoopers
  • F Devine Eke, Rivers Hoopers
  • C Ater Majok, US Monastir

Statistics

Individual statistic leaders

Individual game highs

The league's all-time records for points, rebounds, steals and blocks in a single game were all broken this year.

Team statistic leaders

Notes

1. ^ The qualification rounds began on 3 October 2023 and ended 20 November 2023.
2. ^ During the 2024 BAL qualification, Al Ahly Ly was officially represented as Al Ahly Benghazi by FIBA.
3. ^ José Neto coached Petro de Luanda during the Kalahari Conference, but was fired on 21 March 2024.^[29] Sergio Valdeolmillos was signed as his successor at 28 March 2024.^[30]
4. ^ Ulrich Chomche was initially drafted by APR, however, he was left off the roster as he prepared for the 2024 NBA draft. He was replaced by Mouhamed Camara.^[77]

References

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36. ^ {{}}
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