Basketball Africa League’s inaugural season to be delayed until 2021

The Basketball Africa League will delay its inaugural season until 2021 due to the global pandemic, according to basketball insiders.

An announcement is imminent.

Which means details will emerge about the new league’s plans for next year.

The NBA- and FIBA-backed BAL was to begin play with 12 teams in March, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced league officials to postpone the season.

In March, BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall said in a statement: “Following the recommendation of the Senegalese government regarding the escalating health concerns related to the coronavirus, the BAL’s inaugural season will be postponed. I am disappointed we are not able to tip off this historic league as scheduled but look forward to the highly-anticipated launch of the BAL at a later date.”

The Basketball Africa League’s current teams are from Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia.

Basketball Africa League confronts crisis

The BAL planned to begin playing games in a bubble in Rwanda in December. But lockdowns in certain regions and nations made those plans unrealistic.