National teams' stars who ran the 2024 BAL show

 

KIGALI (Rwanda) - More than 50 national team players starred at the concluded 2024 Basketball Africa League (BAL), making this edition one of the most competitive ever in the history of the league.

African countries whose players competed in the 2024 BAL Playoffs, included Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan and Tunisia. 

Except for South Africa and Morocco, nine of those national teams are taking part in the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers while eight teams (excluding Libya) took part in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers. 

The 2024 BAL Playoffs was an exceptional showpiece of Africa national team stars as three of them made it to the All-BAL First team while Ogoh Odaudu, who has served as Nigeria head coach on countless occasions, was named the 2024 BAL Head Coach of the Year. 

South Sudan's Jo Lual Acuil Jr., who last featured for his country during the 2023 World Cup African Qualifiers, dominated the league's season awards, winning the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards while helping Libya's Al Ahly Ly (Benghazi) to a second place in their first appearance in the competition.  

South Sudan's Jo Lual Acuil Jr. is seen in action during a 2023 World Cup Qualifiers game against Senegal in September 2022

Acuil Jr. was joined in the All-BAL First Team by USA duo of Will Perry and Chris Crawford, Mali's Aliou Diarra and South Africa's Samkelo Cele. The 2.11m (6ft 11in) center was also named to the All-BAL Defensive Team.

2022 Defensive Player of the Year, Aliou Diarra was an x-factor for Morocco' FUS Rabat, who came up short to Cape Town Tigers in a Quarter-Finals overtime clash. 

Aliou Diarra debuted for Mali's senior team during the 2023 FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying African Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria 

Diarra averaged 16.5 points, 10 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.

Samkelo Cele was named to the All-BAL Defensive Team for the second season in a row while hitting some incredibles shots such was the game-tying buzzer-beater three-pointer that sent the Cape Town Tigers v FUS Rabat into overtime.

 

The list of Africa's brightest stars that showed up and showed out in the recently concluded BAL is long and we picked five other players that stamped their names among the league's best. 

Petro de Luanda's Childe Dundao is often underestimated for his low centre of gravity, but when called upon, he stands tall.

In the last two seasons, the Angolan point guard has been in BAL's All-Defensive team and a steals leader in the 2022 tournament.

Childe Dundao

In this season's BAL, Dundao could not replicate those feats, as he and Petro struggled in the Kalahari Conference, but they turned the ship around in the Playoffs with the 26-year-old Dundao's averaging 10.8 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game to contributed to a maiden BAL title for Petro.

Al Ahly Benghazi's Solo Diabate may have been denied a third BAL title, but his contribution to the Libyan club's amazing run proved phenomenal.

The Cote d'Ivoire international, who started the journey with Al Ahly Ly from the Road to BAL, showed he is still a force in African basketball.

Solo Diabate made his third FIBA Basketball World Cup appearance in 2023

Diabate, who averaged 11.3 points per game and six assists for Al Ahly, showed at 36 that he can still fly with his poster dunk on Petro de Luanda's Nick Faust in the final.

Nigeria's Devine Eke brought energy for River Hoopers to both ends of the court.

Eke's exploits were part of why the Hoopers finished first in the Sahara Conference and third overall in the 2024 BAL.

Devine Eke is seen in action against Uganda in Window 1 of the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers held in Monastir, Tunisia

His average of 16 points per game, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game showed the small forward's quality at the league. In the battle for third and fourth, Eke's 20 points against South Africa's Cape Town Tigers led to a Third-Place finish for the Hoopers.

Ehab Amin and Al Ahly SC will be disappointed that they could not defend the BAL trophy they won last year.

As for Amin, he was having an excellent season until the Egyptian giants bowed out at the Playoffs in their Quarter-Final battle against Nile Conference opponents Al Ahly Ly.

Amin's averages of 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game came in handy for Al Ahly SC.

Oussama Marnaoui of US Monastir has developed into a scoring threat for the 2022 BAL champions.

The Tunisian guard helped US Monastir, who started the Sahara Conference with a 0-3 record to finish 3-3 and qualify for the Playoffs.

Oussama Marnaoui

Unfortunately for Marnaoui, and US Monastir they could not get past the Quarter-Finals.

Marnaoui has been part of Monastir's rebuilding process and should be able to establish himself as one of the leaders of the Blue Empire should they make it to BAL Season 5. 

Other household named that featured and made a tremendous difference in the 2024 BAL season included DR Congo's Rolly Fula, Angola's Gerson Lukeny, Aboubacar Gakou and Yanick Moreira, Cote d'Ivoire's Mike Fofana, South Sudan's Majok Deng, Morocco's John Wilkins, Ayoub  Nouhi, Abdelhakim Zouita, Yacine Baeri  and Soufiane Benmhine, Libya's Ghaithy Almaghribi, South Africa's Nkosinathi Sibanyoni, Senegal's Jean Jacques Boissy, Niger's Abdoulaye Harouna and Egypt's Patrick Gardner.

Some of these names are expected to feature for their respective countries in upcoming national team competitions. 

 FIBA