NBA in Africa is a ‘long-term play’

SALY, SENEGAL >> Timothy Ighoefe is an intimidating defender at 6-foot-11 and 245 pounds. Still, the Nigerian knows he must improve if his decision to play basketball instead of soccer is going to pay off and take him to the NBA.

The 18-year-old Ighoefe has committed to play for Patrick Ewing at Georgetown University next season, only three years after switching to basketball in his hometown of Lagos.

“I need to work on my speed, running down the floor baseline to baseline,” Ighoefe said this week at the unveiling of a new training facility at the NBA’s African academy in Senegal. “My left hand, I need to improve, to finish with my left hand.”

In other words, there’s potential but it’s a work in progress — just like Africa itself for the NBA.

“It’s a continent with over a billion people, with a fast-growing economy, fastgrowing young urban population. That’s a good recipe for the NBA long term,” said NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, also in Senegal for the training facility opening.

The NBA has big plans for Africa. An office was established eight years ago in South Africa. There’s an annual exhibition game featuring NBA stars.

Now, the NBA’s top brass says Africa is ready for more. Tatum said they’re creating a pan-African league that will involve existing professional clubs, and that NBA pre-season and regular-season games will be held on the continent “in the next couple of years.”

Another step is the new training center, built on the campus of a soccer academy in a coastal resort town 45 miles south of the Senegalese capital Dakar.