The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, was the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).[1] The season began on 11 March 2023 and ended on 27 May 2023. The playoffs were played in the BK Arena in Kigali, which hosted the final stage for a third season in a row. The regular season was played in Dakar, Senegal and Cairo, Egypt, both venues hosted a conference for a second year in a row.
The first round of the qualifying stage consists of 20 teams that play in four groups of five, each held in different cities. In the Elite 16, the teams are joined by 6 teams that qualified during the previous 2022 BAL qualification. Two groups of five teams are played to determine the six teams that advance to the main tournament.[4]
On 21 September 2021, FIBA Africa announced the 26 teams in the qualifying tournaments as well as the six countries that would qualify directly.[4]
Each BAL team was allowed to have four foreign players on its roster, including only two non-African players. Players in italics were signed only for the playoffs. If players have multiple nationalities, the nationality of an African nation is shown.
Each team also featured one player from the NBA Academy Africa, under the BAL Elevate program.[24] The players were drafted in an online meeting by the teams and the official list were announced on 28 February 2023.[25]
^The ABC Fighters played the regular season with Chudier Bile (South Sudan), Alex Robinson (United States) and Chris Obekpa (Nigeria) as import players. They switched the three players ahead of the playoffs.[26][27]
^The Cape Town Tigers played in the regular season with Josh Hall as an import player, however, Hall was released and replaced with Marvin Smith Jr. ahead of the playoffs.
On 10 January 2023, AS Douanes announced the signing of two-time BAL scoring champion Terrell Stoglin. They signed Chris Crawford, who played in the two previous BAL seasons, as well to complete their back court.[55]
On 4 February 2023, the Cape Town Tigers signed Zaire Wade. Because Zaire is the son of Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, the signing gained attention in the United States.[37]
ESPN declared Petro de Luanda, last year's runners-up, as the title favourites in their annual season preview.[58]
Combine
The league hosted their official second BAL Combine on 15 and 16 January 2023 at The One Ball Training Center in Paris.[59] The combine featured 30 players and was directed by former NBA head coach Quin Snyder.[60] Several players signed a contract with a BAL team after participating in the Combine.[61]
The schedule for the 2023 season was officially released on 13 February 2023.[6]
Phase
Round
Draw date
Games
Qualifying
First Round
–
12–30 October 2022
Elite 16
3 November 2022
14–27 November 2022
Group phase
Sahara Conference
–
11–21 March 2023
Nile Conference
26 April – 6 May 2023
Playoffs
Quarter-finals
21–27 May 2023
Semi-finals
Final and third place
Regular season
The regular season is played from 11 March to 6 May 2023. The twelve teams are divided into two conferences of six teams each. Teams in each group play each other one time, whereafter the top four teams advance to the playoffs.
Tiebreakers
The ranking of teams in the regular season is determined as follows:[62]
Win-loss record;
Head-to-head record;
Point differential in the games between the respective teams;
Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams;
Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference;
Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference;
The games of the Sahara Conference were played from 11 March to 21 March 2023 and were hosted in the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for a second consecutive season. Stade Malien finished as Conference winner, due to their head-to-head point difference that determined the ranking of five teams with a 3–2 record. The defending BAL champions, US Monastir, missed the playoffs after they lost on the last game day.
^ abcdeFive tied teams were ranked on point differential in the games against each other: 1) Stade Malien +13; 2) AS Douanes +12; 3) REG –4; 4) ABC Fighters –4; 5) US Monastir –18.
Petro de Luanda went undefeated and won the conference, after defeating four teams with a margin of at least 17 points. In the most notable match-up of the conference, Petro de Luanda defeated Al Ahly on a buzzer-beater by Gerson Gonçalves.
