Took a lot of years to get it together-Luol Deng speaks on BAL

Former NBA player Luol Deng has stated a lot of years were spent to get the Basketball Africa League (BAL) up and running in an interview.

He said this in the aftermath of the opening game of the NBA-FIBA Africa competition that tipped off on Sunday, May 16 in Rwanda. All games are to be played at the Kigali Arena inside a bubble.

12 teams representing 12 nations have qualified to compete in the tournament due to end on May 30; Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers lost 60-83 to Rwanda’s Patriots in the opening contest.

Deng, who is South Sudan’s Basketball Federation Head and recently guided Africa’s youngest country to its first AfroBasket berth as an interim Coach, stated:

“It took a lot of years to get it together. For me it’s a special day and this is the start of something new-A league that is going to go on for years and years to come.”

Braves of Customs represented Ghana in the zonal qualifiers but missed out on progressing to the main tournament.

By Yaw Adjei-Mintah

@YawMintYM on Twitter