The Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Tuesday, January 7, announced 1986 NBA champion and Olympian Sam Vincent as the Camp Director for the 2025 BAL Combine which will take place in Rabat, Morocco January 10-12. The three-day scouting event, which will be held at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall, will feature more than 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the United States and around the world. ALSO READ: BAL to host scouting event for aspiring players “We are thrilled to have Sam Vincent join us as BAL Combine Camp Director ahead of our pivotal BAL milestone fifth season,” said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall. “His experience at the highest levels as a professional player, national team head coach, and NBA head coach will be invaluable assets for Combine players, coaches, and our league,” he added. Coaches who took part in the Africa Coaches Program at the NBA 2025 Summer League last July in Las Vegas will be part of Vincent’s coaching staff. During his seven-year NBA career, Vincent played for the Boston Celtics, the Seattle SuperSonics, the Chicago Bulls and the Orlando Magic. In 1992, Vincent embraced a career in coaching, which has seen him coach a number of national teams in Africa, Asia, and Europe to impressive results. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he coached Nigeria's women’s national team, which beat South Korea for the first victory by an African nation in an Olympic women’s basketball competition. Two years later, Vincent coached Nigeria's men’s national team to the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship. The fifth season of BAL will tip off on April 5 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat and culminate with the finals on Saturday, June 14 at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, marking the first BAL games in Morocco and the first BAL Finals in South Africa. A total of 12 African clubs will play 48 conference games in Rabat (Kalahari); Dakar, Senegal (Sahara); Kigali, Rwanda (Nile); and Pretoria (playoffs and finals). BAL 2025 Schedule: Kalahari Conference: April 5 –13 at Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall, Rabat Sahara Conference: April 26 –May 4 at Dakar Arena, Dakar Nile Conference: May 17-25 at BK Arena, Kigali Finals: June 6-14 at SunBet Arena, Pretoria
