Former NBA power forward, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, is confident a Ghanaian team will qualify to compete in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) main competition in the near future.
He made this statement in an interview on ChannelOne TV’s Breakfast Daily Weekend while speaking about his SEED Academy Ghana Project that seeks to develop more young Ghanaian basketball players.
The BAL is a product of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is in its fifth edition with Angolan side Petro De Luanda as defending champions.
The 2025 BAL group phase of the competition runs from April 5 to May 25 with the playoffs scheduled to take place from June 6 to June 14. The winner of the BAL qualifies to compete in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
Ghana’s Braves of Customs and Spintex Knights are the only Ghanaian teams to compete in the tournament but neither team made it to the main competition; Knights made it to the Elite 16 stage but Mensah-Bonsu believes this drought will end soon.
“I know what the future of Ghana is going to be within that [BAL]. Part of me moving back here was to develop that ecosystem so that Ghana can have a team, Ghana can have the infrastructure to have a league and the team that can participate in the BAL and in those years to come, we will have that” Mensah-Bonsu said.
The British born Mensah-Bonsu is of Ghanaian descent but represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London. Scroll down to watch interview from 18:03 to 18:55 mark.
