2026 Basketball Africa League: Nairobi City Thunder have their work cut out for them

Kenyan champions Nairobi City Thunder have their work cut out for them as they begin their campaign in the sixth edition of Basketball Africa League (BAL), which throws off this afternoon at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

Nairobi City Thunder will come up against opponents boasting players with NBA experience in the eight-day championship.

BAL, a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and NBA Africa, is a professional league featuring 12 club teams from across Africa.  Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, BAL builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA Africa has organised across the continent, and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside North America.

This season, the 12 teams will be divided into two conferences - Kalahari Conference and Sahara Conference – featuring six teams each. Each conference is scheduled to play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the other five teams in its conference once.

Nairobi City Thunder will compete in Kalahari Conference group phase from Friday till Sunday (March 27 to April 5) in Pretoria.

The Sahara Conference group phase will take place from April 24, and will run till May 3 at Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat. Eight teams from across the two conferences will qualify for BAL playoffs scheduled for Kigali from May 22 – 31.

On Friday,the Kenyan champions who made their debut in the tournament for the first time last season,  play their first match in Kalahari Conference against newcomers Dar City Basketball Club from Tanzania, from 4pm (Kenyan time) at SunBet Arena in Pretoria.

Thunder will next play home team Johannesburg Giants on Sunday from 7pm, then play 2024 BAL champions Petro de Luanda

of Angola, on April 1 at 5pm. The Kenyan team will then take on Al Ahly Ly (Benghazi) from Libya on April 3 from 5pm,  and  wrap up their campaign in the conference with a match against RSSB Tigers Basketball Club from Rwanda on April 4 from 4pm.  RSSB Tigers replaced Rwanda’s military side APR in the competition.

In Dar City, RSSB Tigers,  and Johannesburg Giants,  Nairobi City Thunder come up against three formidable sides competing in BAL championship for the first time.  While Johannesburg Giants will be seeking to ride on home advantage to upset opponents, Dar City and RSSB Tigers are the dark hoses of the group, and will be out to cause upsets.

Petro de Luanda boast experience and stability, being the only team to have participated in all the five previous seasons of BAL, and reaching the podium four times. They won the title in 2024, finished second in 2022 and 2025, and came third in the inaugural 2021 edition. The Libyan giants also finished   fourth in 2023.

Nairobi City Thunder skipper, Tylor Ongwae, reckons that their strength lies in team cohesion.

“This team has been playing together for a few years now, bringing the best out of each other. The team is brimming with confidence, and we have a lot to prove,”  Ongwae observed.

City Thunder have retained their core of the team  that competed in  BAL last season,  including Ongwae, Eugene Adera, Albert Odero, Ariel Okall and Garang Ding from South Sudan. The team has recruited small forward Shaheed “Heed” Davis and power forward Lance Thomas, all from USA,  and Nigerian power forward Josh Nzeakor.

Thunder competed in BAL for the first time last season. The team failed to reach the play-offs after finishing fourth in Nile Conference behind Al Ahli Tripoli,  APR of Rwanda and South Africa’s MBB in April last year in Kigali, Rwanda. At the time, Thunder’s only victory in six BAL games came in 85-76 win against MMB of South Africa in Nile Conference.

Ahli Tripoli went on to beat Petro de Luanda 88-67 in the final to lift the title last year.

Davis, versatile power forward, brings extensive international experience to the Kenyan champions, having played in more than 19 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa,

Thomas competed in BAL Elite contest last year.

But Thunder’s opponents boast star players, including former NBA stars, and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) from previous BAL editions.

Against Nairobi City Thunder, Dar City will field former NBA stars Hasheem Thabeet and Michael Foster Jr, while Damion Baugh and Donovan Williams will feature for Al Ahly Ly.  Mangok Mathiang from South Sudan will play for RSSB Tigers as they  seek to deplore their NBA experience for their sides.

Thabeet is the only Tanzanian to have played in the NBA, having featured for Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Oklahoma City Thunder between 2009 and 2014.

Baugh appeared in 15 regular‑season games for the Charlotte Hornets during the 2024–25 NBA season, while Mathiang, who represented Australia internationally, featured for the Hornets in the 2017-18 NBA season.

Williams played for the Atlanta Hawks in the 2022-23 season, and Foster Jr. made his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers in the same year.

Lual-Acuil and Jean-Jacques Boissy, who won the 2024 and 2025 BAL MVP awards, respectively, hope to power Libyan champions Al Ahly Ly to victory.

Petro de Luanda have signed up Angolan international Milton Valente, South Sudanese sharpshooter Peter Jok, and American-born Javion Blake, who plays internationally for the Syrian national team.

After Kalahari Conference, the focus will turn to the Sahara Conference that has Al Ahly (Egypt), JCA Giants (Côte d'Ivoire), Club Africain (Tunisia), FUS Rabat (Morocco), Maktown Flyers (Nigeria) and Ville de Dakar (Senegal).

They will compete at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco, from April 24 to May 3.

The top four teams in each conference will advance to the 2026 BAL Play-offs, which are scheduled to take place from May 22 to 31 in Kigali, Rwanda,

This season, 12 BAL teams will play a total of 42 games. Defending champions Al Ahly Tripoli will not be in action, having failed to qualify after finishing second in the Libyan league in the 2025 season. Two former BAL champions - Al Ahly of Egypt and Petro de Luanda - will be in action. ENDS