NBA confident in challenge to gain hoops traction in Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The indoor arena where the NBA will stage a historic event, an organized game for the first time on African soil (Aug. 1 at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN), holds 5,000. The players in this game played in college gyms three times larger. Right next door is a stadium that gets 50,000 for rugby and was used for the 2010 World Cup. 

Now you see what the NBA and the effort to build better basketball in Africa is up against.

There are rather cumbersome infrastructure issues throughout Africa, mainly with facilities.

 There's little incentive to construct big and shiny new gyms, not for countries that struggle with funding. Even if such money were available, soccer and cricket would cut in front of the line. 

Also, for all its steady growth on the continent over the last few decades, basketball hasn't produced an African powerhouse on the international scene. Not a single African country has ever medaled in the Olympics or World Championships, or even come close. Only Angola, Nigeria and Senegal consistently make the FIBA world rankings. Angola (No. 16) is the only African country in the top 20, and for comparison's sake, Mexico, not exactly a hoops pipeline, is ahead of Nigeria, home to the great Hakeem Olajuwon. Mexico? 

Which raises an important point: As a continent, Africa produces a fair number of good players, and some make a living in the NBA. But it is splintered off into many countries and therefore the basketball talent is spread too thin to create, for example, another Croatia. 

Therefore, what's the incentive for the NBA to spend time and resources on a continent where the hurdles are high and the interest, compared to other sports here, is low? Well, that's easy. If Africa ever warms up to basketball, and that's slowly happening, basketball will win big. And when basketball wins, the NBA wins. Call it an investment into the future. 

But man, those hurdles ...

"We have to build leagues, we have to get coaches, we have to train coaches, we have to build programs," said Raptors GM Masai Ujiri, who is Nigerian-born and has stayed active in the cause for two decades. "It just doesn't happen overnight." 

African interest in basketball is growing

The power brokers in basketball are undaunted. The alliance of FIBA and the NBA and sponsors such as Nike are forging ahead and they keep coming back. There's just too much to gain, they feel, and too many people -- just over a billion, actually -- for Africa not to create good and great players. Again, this isn't a continent the size of Australia. This is Africa. This is a billion. Even with shaky infrastructure, those are delicious odds. 

For 13 years now, Basketball Without Borders, the offspring of the NBA and FIBA, has infiltrated Africa and you must admire its teeth-gritting persistence. This group goes straight for the grassroots and tries to hook the kids. Outdoor courts are built, clinics are held and elite camps are staged. The organizations for soccer and cricket don't have to work this hard. 

Basketball does, and is. 

The NBA put an office in Johannesburg and five years ago created the role of vice president of development. The NBA is evidently serious. And so is Amadou Fall, a former standout player for Senegal who left his front-office position with the Mavericks in about five seconds to take the job. 

He is connected and sharp and always impeccably dressed in a suit that screams Wall Street, which is where he could be working, among other places. But his heart belongs to basketball and to African kids and so it was a natural match. He is a boots-on-the-ground guy who is relentless in raising basketball awareness throughout the continent, or simply helping Africans look for a way out through basketball. 

"The interest is there among young people in Africa," Fall said. "It's not like you have to sell the game. For the most part, young people here are attracted to American pop culture. They want to like what American kids like and basketball is a part of that. Teenagers across the world have the same interests. They follow the same trends, which are set on a global basis."

Meaning: LeBron moves the needle everywhere, not just in the U.S. 

"Our goal is realistic," he said. "Most of the young people we bring into our camps are not going to play basketball for a living. We just want to ensure that those who do have passion are going to have the chance to showcase their talent. Our goal is to make the game accessible. We want to give them a clear path."