BAL Season 6 Kalahari Conference Saw Records Broken and Stars Born

For the third year in a row, the Basketball Africa League (BAL) Kalahari Conference touched down at Sunbet Arena in Pretoria, kicking off the League’s sixth overall season. From 27 March to 5 April 2026, six conference teams went head-to-head in a record-breaking event for the history books.

BAL Season 6 Kalahari Conference highlights | What's on in Joburg

Debut teams dominate on the court

Competing in the Season 6 Kalahari Conference were six teams: South Africa’s Johannesburg Giants, Rwanda’s RSSB Tigers, Angola’s Petro de Luanda, Libya’s Al Ahly Ly, Tanzania’s Dar City and Kenya’s Nairobi City Thunder.

Dar City made history as the first Tanzanian team to compete in the BAL, while RSSB Tigers also made their League debut this season. Despite being first timers, both teams played dominantly throughout the conference.

BAL Season 6 Kalahari Conference highlights Leonard Craig Randall II | What's on in Joburg — Leonard Craig Randall II and RSSB Tigers celebrate the 54-point record | Images courtesy of the BAL

New records set

Dar City broke a points record, with the team scoring a total of 215 points in their 31 March game against Al Ahly Ly, marking the highest-scoring game in BAL history. The team finished in the fourth seed in the conference, securing the final spot in the playoffs taking place in Kigali, Rwanda from 22 to 31 May 2026.

RSSB Tigers finished at the top of the conference with only a single loss against the Nairobi City Thunder who, along with the Johannesburg Giants, failed to secure a spot in the playoffs.

The Tigers’ point guard Leonard Craig Randall II set a ground-breaking points record in a single game, making 54 points with 11 three-pointers against Dar City on 4 April.

In reaction to breaking the scoring record, Randall said, “I’m blessed to be here. I can’t do nothing but thank God, I can’t do nothing but thank my coaches for giving me the opportunity. The BAL— this is my first experience but it’s second-to-none.”

“My focus is winning the championship for the country and if that means I gotta score points to do it, that’s what I gotta do. Just blessed to be here,” the point guard added.

BAL Season 6 Kalahari Conference highlights Scotts Maphuma and Kamo Mphela | What's on in Joburg — Scotts Maphuma (left) and Kamo Mphela (right) | Images courtesy of the BAL

Record-breaking BAL attendance in Pretoria

This year’s Kalahari Conference welcomed a total of 38 677 fans to Sunbet Arena, setting a new South African attendance record. Local stars such as Nasty C, Scotts Maphuma and Kamo Mphela also set the crowds alight with unforgettable performances, bringing the perfect display of South African energy and spirit.

When asked about the significance of having South Africa as one of the host countries of the Basketball Africa League, BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall had this to say:

I think this is a country that we’ve – from a very long time ago – set our eyes to have as a priority country to grow the game of basketball. Many of our milestone events and activities across the continent have happened in South Africa …And the response we’ve gotten for all those games just continued to encourage us to want to do more in South Africa.
This crowd is incredible. They come, they pack the arena, they have a good time. How we also build our league, we want to be the perfect intersection of sports and lifestyle, music, fashion, arts. All creativity in our landscape comes to life best here, at Sunbet Arena, and we are really loving the opportunity and looking forward to doing more.

The Sahara Conference is being hosted in Rabat, Morroco from 24 April to 3 May 2026, before the top four teams from both the Kalahari and Sahara conferences compete for the championship in Kigali, Rwanda.