Khaman Maluach, the projected third pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, will play in this season’s Basketball Africa League (BAL) for Uganda’s City Oilers, while potential 2024 first round pick Ulrich Chomche will represent Rwanda’s APR.
ESPN has seen a document, confirmed as legitimate by multiple NBA sources, containing the destinations for 12 standout NBA Africa Academy players in this year’s BAL Elevate program.
The 7-foot-2 South Sudan center Maluach, who has visited Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and UCLA, will play his final BAL season for the Oilers.
Meanwhile, his Cameroonian 6-foot-11 counterpart Chomche, who has a long list of potential suitors including USC, Georgetown, Xavier, Texas, Arizona, Washington and G League Ignite, should he decide against declaring for the draft this year, will play for APR, having impressed for their local rivals, REG, last year.
Elsewhere, Egypt’s Seif Hendawy, who has committed to Loyola University in Chicago, will be joining boyhood club Al Ahly for this year’s BAL.
The BAL Elevate program has been in operation since 2022, the second year of the league’s existence. It sees a select group of top NBA Africa Academy talents compete against seasoned professionals in the continent’s elite basketball league, organised by the NBA and FIBA.
The league has played a significant role in exposing African teenage basketball talents to an international audience. This season, players were allocated to teams by league organisers – a change to the draft format used last year.
“The assignment of BAL Elevate players to their respective teams was based on the following criteria by order of precedence: country of birth, country of nationality, country where majority of life was spent, past BAL team, country of past BAL team,” BAL communications lead Edwin Eselem told ESPN.
Angola international guard Aginaldo Neto, who told ESPN he has drawn interest from Nebraska and San Diego, will represent his home country’s Petro de Luanda. He will be one of the players to watch at the Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, where the tournament will get underway from March 9-17.
He will be joined by another interesting talent, Senegal’s Mouhamed Camara, who will line up for Moroccan side FUS Rabat. Burundi’s Dynamo BBC will have Mohamed Sylla in their ranks, while hosts the Cape Town Tigers will be joined by Yakhya Diop.
In Cairo’s Nile Conference (April 19-27), Maluach will likely take on a leading role for the Oilers, the champions of Uganda – the country in which he spent the majority of his childhood after leaving war-torn South Sudan.
Hometown hero Hendawy will represent hosts and defending champions Al Ahly, while Libyan side Al Ahly Benghazi will have Senegalese guard Assane Mandian in their ranks. Central African Republic’s Bangui will have some Egyptian influence from sharpshooter Ahmed Nedal Abouelela.
At the Sahara Conference in Dakar (May 4-12), Chomche will be the main attraction as he teams up with 2022 BAL MVP Michael Dixon for Rwanda’s APR, who will be on home soil in the playoffs in Kigali should they make it that far.
Khadim Rassoul Mboup, another highly talented prospect, will represent conference hosts AS Douanes, while Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers will have David Ugonna Ike in their ranks and Tunisia’s US Monastir will be represented by Ahmed Bedoui.
BAL Elevate Season 4 allocations
Kalahari Conference, Pretoria (March 9-17)
Cape Town Tigers (South Africa): Yakhya Diop (Senegal)
Dynamo BBC (Burundi): Mohamed Sylla (Senegal)
FUS Rabat (Morocco): Mouhamed Camara (Senegal)
Petro de Luanda (Angola): Aginaldo Neto (Angola)
Nile Conference, Cairo (April 19-27)
Al Ahly (Egypt): Seifeldin Hendawy (Egypt)
Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya): Assane Mandian (Senegal)
Bangui SC (Central African Republic): Ahmed Nedal Abouelela (Egypt)
City Oilers (Uganda): Khaman Maluach (South Sudan)
Sahara Conference, Dakar (May 4-12)
APR (Rwanda): Ulrich Chomche (Cameroon)
AS Douanes (Senegal): Khadim Rassoul Mboup (Senegal)
Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria): David Ugonna Ike (Nigeria)
US Monastir (Tunisia): Ahmed Bedoui (Tunisia)
