2023 BAL season

Petro de Luanda was the first team to qualify for the season when it won the Angolan League on 10 May 2022.^[5] The last qualified team was City Oilers who captured the third place in the Road to BAL East Division on 27 November 2022. The twelve teams of the 2023 BAL season were officially confirmed on 13 February 2023.^[6] After an absence of a Nigerian representative in the 2022 season due to FIBA's punishment of the Nigeria Basketball Federation,^[7] Kwara Falcons was directly qualified as winners of the Nigerian Premier League.^[8]

Al Ahly, Kwara Falcons, ABC Fighters and Stade Malien made their league debuts. ABC Fighters was the first team from Ivory Coast to play in the BAL, while City Oilers was the first team from Uganda.^[9][6]

Two teams, defending champions US Monastir and runners-up Petro de Luanda, appear in their third consecutive season.

Team	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Previous appearance	Consecutive appearances	Previous best performance
Petro de Luanda	Angolan Basketball League winners	10 May 2022[5]	3rd	2022	3	Runners-up (2022)
US Monastir	Championnat National A winners	16 May 2022	3rd	2022	3	Champions (2022)
Al Ahly	Egyptian Super League winners	16 May 2022[10]	1st	–	1	–
REG	RBL winners	19 September 2022[11]	2nd	2022	2	Quarter-finals (2022)
AS Douanes	Nationale 1 winners	15 October 2022[12]	2nd	2021	1	Quarter-finals (2021)
Kwara Falcons	NBBF Premier League winners	12 November 2022[8]	1st	–	1	–
ABC Fighters	Road to BAL West Division winners	17 November 2022[9]	1st	–	1	–
SLAC	Road to BAL West Division runners-up	17 November 2022[13]	2nd	2022	2	Quarter-finals (2022)
Stade Malien	Road to BAL West Division third place	18 November 2022[14]	1st	–	1	–
Ferroviário da Beira	Road to BAL East Division runners-up	26 November 2022[15]	2nd	2022	2	Group stage (2022)
Cape Town Tigers	Road to BAL East Division winners	26 November 2022[16]	2nd	2022	2	Quarter-finals (2022)
City Oilers	Road to BAL East Division third place	27 November 2022	1st	–	1	–

Augustí Julbe of Al Ahly was the only coach this season to already have won a BAL championship, as he won the 2021 title with Zamalek.

Team	Head coach	Captain
ABC Fighters	Liz Mills[17]	Stéphane Konaté
Al Ahly	Augustí Julbe[18]	Seif Samir
AS Douanes	Pabi Guèye	Alkaly Ndour
Cape Town Tigers	Rasheed Hazzard[19]	Pieter Prinsloo
City Oilers	Mandy Juruni	James Okello
Ferroviário da Beira	Luís Lopes Hernandez[20]	Will Perry
Kwara Falcons	Baba Jubril	Victor Ezeh
Petro de Luanda	José Neto[21]	Carlos Morais
REG	Dean Murray[22]	Olivier Shyaka
SLAC	Željko Zečević	Ibrahima Kalil Fofana
Stade Malien	Kaba Kanté	Makan Keita
US Monastir	Miodrag Perišić[23]	Radhouane Slimane

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]

Team	Players					Elevate player[25]
	1	2	3	4
ABC Fighters[i]	Omar Abada[28]	Tylor Ongwae[28]	Ousmane Dramé[28]	Abdoulaye Harouna[26]		Joy Ighovodja
Al Ahly	Nuni Omot[29]	Michael Fakuade[30]	Michael Thompson[29]	Corey Webster[31]		Ladji Camara
AS Douanes	Matthew Bryan-Amaning[32]	Michael Ochereobia[33]	Terrell Stoglin[34]	Chris Crawford[35]		Khaman Maluach
Cape Town Tigers[ii]	Evans Ganapamo[36]	Michael Gbinije[36]	Zaire Wade[37]	Marvin Smith Jr.[38]		Parby Musongela
City Oilers	Ngor Barnaba[39]	Falando Jones[39]	James Justice Jr.[40]	—N/a		Obe Ezekiel
Ferroviário da Beira	Makhtar Gueye[41]	Bourama Sidibe[42]	Will Perry[42]	Najeal Young[42]		Paul Kabenga Mbiya
Kwara Falcons	Sita Conteh[43]	Kevin Nyemeck[43]	A. J. Wilson[44]	Ruot Monyyong[43]		Modou Fall Thiam[45]
Petro de Luanda	Solo Diabate[46]	Damian Hollis[47]	Ater Majok[48]	—N/a		Seifeldin Hendaway
REG	Pitchou Kambuy Manga[49]	Beleck Bell Engelbert[49]	Cleveland Thomas[50]	Delwan Graham[49]		Ulrich Chomche
SLAC	Michael Nwabuzor[39]	Uchenna Iroegbu[39]	Dane Miller Jr.[51]	Sedrick Barefield[39]		Mabilmawut Mabil
Stade Malien	Kelvin Amayo[52]	Gregory Foster[38]	Brian Bridgeford[52]	John Wilkins[52]		Rueben Chinyelu
US Monastir	Ibrahima Thomas[53]	Jerome Randle[54]	—N/a	—N/a		Churchill Abass

Notes

• On 23 September 2022, Petro de Luanda signed two-time BAL champion Solo Diabate, who came over from US Monastir.^[46]
• 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 21 January 2023, US Monastir signed Jerome Randle, a former NBL MVP winner in Australia.^[54]
• 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]
• On 23 February 2023, ABC Fighters announced the signing of Abdoulaye Harouna, who lined up for his third BAL season.^[26]
• On 10 March 2023, Petro de Luanda signed Ater Majok, reigning BAL champion and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Majok came over from US Monastir.^[56]
• In May, ahead of the playoffs, the ABC Fighters signed Omar Abada, who was an All-BAL First Team selection in 2021.^[28]

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.

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.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	PCT	Qualification		SML	ASD	REG	ABC	USM	KWA
1	Stade Malien	5	3	2	378	361	+17	.600[a]	Advance to playoffs		—	—	84–64	—	68–78	—
2	AS Douanes (H)	5	3	2	350	331	+19	.600[a]			74–58	—	—	70–76	—	—
3	REG	5	3	2	356	344	+12	.600[a]			—	69–55	—	—	79–84	64–48
4	ABC Fighters	5	3	2	389	390	−1	.600[a]			71–90	—	73–80	—	90–74	—
5	US Monastir	5	3	2	381	388	−7	.600[a]			—	60–76	—	—	—	85–74
6	Kwara Falcons	5	0	5	341	381	−40	.000			74–78	68–75	—	76–79	—	—

The games of the Nile Conference will be played from 26 April to 6 May 2023 and will be played in the Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall in 6th of October, Cairo, Egypt.

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.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	PCT	Qualification		PDL	AAH	CFV	CTT	SLC	COI
1	Petro de Luanda	5	5	0	463	363	+100	1.000	Advance to playoffs		—	91–90	—	87–48	—	89–71
2	Al Ahly (H)	5	4	1	425	380	+45	.800			—	—	92–73	—	80–70	—
3	Ferroviário da Beira	5	2	3	416	462	−46	.400[a]			76–101	—	—	82–76	—	—
4	Cape Town Tigers	5	2	3	354	398	−44	.400[a]			—	75–91	—	—	—	80–70
5	SLAC	5	1	4	409	427	−18	.200[b]			78–95	—	97–109	68–75	—	—
6	City Oilers	5	1	4	375	412	−37	.200[b]			—	70–72	96–75	—	68–96	—

The winner of the Coach of the Year award was announced on 26 May.^[63] The Defensive Player of the Year, Sportsmanship Award and Most Valuable Player were announced on 27 May. The BAL's community service award, the Ubuntu Award, was decided by an online fan vote and the winner was announced on 30 January 2024.^[64]

• Most Valuable Player: Nuni Omot, Al Ahly
• Defensive Player of the Year: Aliou Diarra, Stade Malien
• Coach of the Year: Pabi Gueye, AS Douanes
• Sportsmanship Award: Will Perry, Ferroviário da Beira
• Ubuntu Award: Tonny Drileba, City Oilers^[64]
• All-BAL First Team^[65]
  • G Chris Crawford, AS Douanes
  • G Jean Jacques Boissy, AS Douanes
  • F Dane Miller Jr., SLAC
  • F Nuni Omot, Al Ahly
  • C Aliou Diarra, Stade Malien
• BAL All-Defensive Team
  • G Childe Dundão, Petro de Luanda
  • G Jean Jacques Boissy, AS Douanes
  • F Samkelo Cele, Cape Town Tigers
  • C Aliou Diarra, Stade Malien
  • C Ater Majok, Petro de Luanda