In a press release published on March 3, 2022, the Basketball Africa League (BAL) announced the creation of the new “BAL Elevate” program. It will allow hopefuls from the NBA Academy Africa to join one of the 12 teams of the BAL during the 2022 season of the league, the start of which is scheduled for Saturday March 5, 2022. 12 hopefuls from Morocco, Senegal, from Cameroon, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Senegal currently a resident of the NBA Academy Africa, an elite basketball training center in Saly, Senegal, which trains the best prospects from all over Africa . “The program will provide the next generation of African hopefuls with the opportunity to participate in the new professional league, showcase their talent on the world stage and help their respective teams compete for the BAL Championship in 2022”underlines the press release.
We can read the words of the president of the BAL Amadou Gallo Fall, who declares: “We believe that the BAL Elevate program will be extremely useful for the 12 teams of the BAL and for the young men of the NBA Academy Africa who are ready to develop at the professional level alongside the best players on the continent”.
The selection of the BAL Elevate program was made on March 2 by the presidents of the BAL teams. Players from the BAL Elevate program who hail from the same country as a BAL team have automatically been chosen to work with that team. When multiple players participating in the BAL Elevate program are from the same country as a BAL team, the team selected one of the players while the other player(s) joined the remaining group for the opportunity to be selected by another team. Players in the BAL Elevate program will not share in the monetary prize awarded to top BAL teams at the end of the season in an effort to maintain their amateur status.
The 12 teams of the BAL, including the defending champion, Zamalek (Egypt), have been divided into two conferences: the Sahara conference and the Nile conference. Each conference will play a 15-game group stage in which each team will play the other five teams in their conference once. The Sahara Conference group stage will take place at the Dakar Arena from March 5-15, while the Nile Conference group stage will take place at the Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo from April 9-19. The top four teams from each conference will advance to the BAL playoffs, which will include a knockout tournament and finals at the Kigali Arena from May 21-28.
In the season opener, Senegal’s Dakar University Club (DUC) will face Guinea’s Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (SLAC) at 12:30 p.m. (ET)/5:30 p.m. (GMT) in the first of 38 matches to be played across three cities over the next three months.
The NBA Academy is an annual elite basketball development program that provides top prospects outside the United States with a holistic approach to player development and a predictable path to maximize their potential. In 2018, NBA Academy Africa opened a new facility in Saly, Senegal, which includes two indoor basketball courts, a multipurpose activity center, weight room, conference rooms, dormitories and educational facilities. Since the NBA Academy Africa opened in 2017, 19 participants have joined NCAA Division 1 schools in the United States.
Here is the list of players in the BAL Elevate program for each team:
| Team | BAL Elevate Program Player | Pays | Age | Cut | Position |
| Sahara Conference | |||||
| AS Sale (Morocco) | Nadir Bennis | Morocco | 19 | 1,88 m | PG/SG |
| CFV (Mozambique) | Reuben Abuchi Chinyelu | Nigeria | 18 | 2,08 m | PF |
| Duke (Senegal) | Babacar Sane | Senegal | 18 | 1,98 m | G |
| REG (Rwanda) | Joy Ighovodja | Nigeria | 17 | 1,93 m | PG |
| SLAC (Guinea) | Serigne Saliou Mbaye | Senegal | 18 | 1,88 m | PG |
| US Monastir (Tunisia) | Charles Loic Onana Awana | Cameroon | 18 | 2,01 m | G |
| Nile Conference | |||||
| Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) | Matar Diop | Senegal | 18 | 2,03 m | F |
| Cobra Sport (South Sudan) | Khaman Madit Maluach | South Sudan | 15 | 2,13 m | F |
| Espoir Fukash (Democratic Republic of Congo) | Emmanuel Eberechukwu Okorafor | Nigeria | 17 | 2,06 m | F |
| F.A.P (Cameroun) | Ulrich Kamka Chomche | Cameroon | 16 | 2,11 m | F |
| Petro de Luanda (Angola) | Thierry Serge Darlan | Central African Republic | 18 | 1,98 m | SG |
| Zamalek (Egypt) | Khadim Rassoul Mboup | Senegal | 15 | 2,01 m | G |
