Africa slowly starting to carve niche in world basketball

There are probably only a handful of people who know exactly what makes basketball tick in South Africa and further north.

Basketball, long considered in South Africa as a sport Americans play, is slowly but surely gaining a solid foothold on the African continent thanks to the efforts of NBA Africa and the people who pull the strings both in the background and forefront.

One of those who leads the way in the development of the sport in South Africa is Kita Matungulu, a respected coach in the basketball domain.

He is the founder of Hoops 4 Hope, a nonprofit organisation that has been working since 1995 in underprivileged communities in Cape Town and Harare, Zimbabwe.

The programme aims to teach children about sports and to arm them with life skills.

Matungulu, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drives the passion that looks after these underserved communities and is respected by the basketball faithful in South Africa, up through Africa and all around the world.

He has been there and done it since arriving in South Africa in the 1990s, where he forged a professional basketball career before hanging up his boots to become a selfless servant of the game. 

Matungulu was also part of the renowned technical team of the Doc Rivers-coached Boston Celtics who won the NBA championship in 2007-2008.

So when he talks, people tend to listen because of the knowledge he has gained over time.

He describes the current state of South African basketball as “progressive progress”, especially with the Basketball Africa League (BAL) making its presence felt in the country, with local teams competing and the construction of a fan base.

During the NBA All-Stars events in San Francisco at the weekend, Matungulu, clad in a grey suit as opposed to the norm of sneakers and sweat pants, smiled broadly from the sidelines as Nigerian youngster Ikenna Alozie was crowned the most valuable player at the Global Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Camp.

The camp featured the best 40 young BWB Global campers from 22 countries. 

For Matungulu, the accolade was a poignant reminder of how much potential African basketball players possessed. It was all part of a plan coming together.

“To have an MVP from Africa among children all around the world is beyond amazing,” Matungulu said.

“We walk with our head up high as a continent.

“These children will play for the national teams, the BAL and even in the NBA potentially and we will say we saw the children in the global camp.”

Alozie’s performances throughout the event cried MVP as he showed athleticism, playmaking and ability to penetrate and create opportunities from nothing.

Other African campers with Alozie were Heri Bukinga (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Arafan Diane (Guinea), Ali Assran (Egypt), David Ugonna Ike (Nigeria), Theophilus Edema (Nigeria), Paul Ater Maker Bol (South Sudan) and Ahmed Bedoui (Tunisia).

The BWB Africa camp has shaped the careers of players such as Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) and Ulrich Chomche (Toronto Raptors).

A majority of this intake was part of the annual BWB African camp in Johannesburg and the hope is that South Africa will soon produce its own stars to follow in their footsteps.