NBA Africa opened their fifth office in Africa last November in Nairobi, the office is being led by Michael Finley, the NBA Kenya Senior Director and Country Operations Lead.
In a bid to develop the sport of basketball and infrastructure in Kenya, the NBA will build 100 basketball courts across Kenya, the NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operations Officer Mark Tatum announced in Nairobi.
The 100 courts are part of the 1000 courts the NBA will construct across Africa over the next decade. The initiative will be in collaboration with Opportunity International which will help build outdoor basketball courts and conduct youth clinics in Nairobi, Kenya and Kigali, Rwanda next year.
“I think those courts can be places where kids, boys and girls can come and learn how to become better basketball players and how to become better teammates, they will learn about discipline, they will learn about hard work and those are the things we hope to accomplish by providing more access to youth here in Kenya and around the continent. And that’s just part of our commitment,” Tatum said.
Tatum, visiting Kenya for the first time, announced the development during a press conference in Nairobi where NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi shared the organization’s initiatives and plans in Africa with an emphasis on basketball as a driver of economic growth on the continent.
“It is very important to develop basketball in Africa - one because Africa has talent, now imagine 10% of NBA players today are from Africa, either they were born here or one of their parents was born here. And this is without any form of structure -to develop basketball. Imagine how much more talent Africa has that cannot get to that point?”
“What NBA is doing today is intentional and with intentional structures and facilities and investments, you are actually going to have a lot of people playing basketball. Secondly, Africa is very youthful. Africa is the future, look at the economic growth rate. The youthfulness shows this is the time to invest in Africa.”
Also present was five-time NBA Champion Derek Fisher who will lead the Jnr NBA clinic in Nairobi gave an account of how access to basketball shaped him and hopes the same current opportunities will help children across the continent. This is Fisher’s maiden visit to Africa.
“Access to opportunities is so key for all of us, access to opportunities is what drives growth. We know that when young people in particular are provided with opportunities, they will grow, they will become the better versions of themselves,”
“I know as a person from a very small state in the USA, access to opportunity is what drove the growth for me personally and professionally, whether it was playing outside or at a court nearby or to have structured play on a local boys and girls club, to have coaches available at least to help train and develop me as a young player, I won’t have been sitting here without that opportunity to play the game of basketball.”
NBA Africa opened their fifth office in Africa last November in Nairobi, the office is being led by Michael Finley, the NBA Kenya Senior Director and Country Operations Lead.
“There are three things we essentially committed to which was to lead player development, helping to make sure facilities are being built in the country and helping to get the game back going in the school system. So have been tracking on all of those.
“We launched a court with the Kenyan government and the Kenya Academy of Sport where Kenya's elite player development takes place and we are very proud that programs will take place there. We have started training coaches and players.”
On Wednesday October 9th , NBA Africa and Safaricom will officially launch the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA program with a basketball clinic for boys and girls aged 18 and under.