The NBA announced the formation of the Basketball Africa League.
The NBA will partner with FIBA, the international governing body for the sport, to form the 12-team league, which is expected open January 2020, the NBA announced on Saturday.
Former President Barack Obama is expected to have hands-on involvement with league as well.
Obama spoke on a video that was shown during the event where Silver announced the league.
I’ve always loved basketball because it’s about building a team that’s equal to more than the sum of its parts. Glad to see this expansion into Africa because for a rising continent, this can be about a lot more than what happens on the court. https://t.co/lghcLaUN9a
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 16, 2019
There will be qualifying tournaments held to determine which teams make the league with the nations of Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia likely to be represented.
This marks the first time the NBA has been involved with the operation of a league outside of North America.
The NBA says more details about the new league will be released in the coming months.
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