Senegal hosted the first NBA Academy Showcase to be organised in Africa in April.
Future world basketball stars were likely to be among the 71 players who travelled to Senegal for the April 6 to April 9 event, according to Africanews correspondent Wahany Sambo.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) academy in Saly is an elite training facility for the top male and female prospects from across Africa.
The academy is a partnership between the NBA and SEED Project, a Senegalese non-profit organisation that uses sport as a platform to engage young people in academic, athletic and leadership programmes.
Frank Traore, Head of Basketball Operations, NBA Africa, said the April showcase gave scouts an opportunity to discover new talent on the continent.
’It's very, very important that scouts from all over the world can come and feel comfortable in Africa, in general, but especially today here in Senegal, to see these young people, to see what these young people have to offer to the basketball world.
‘Many of them have the level, right now, to play in the NBA. We have a few that I think and hope will make Africa proud in the NBA in the years to come.’
At the start of the 2022-2023 season, there were 16 African rosters playing in the NBA.
Seventy-seven of the league's players were born in Africa, including 30 from Nigeria, 12 from Senegal and six from Cameroon.
