NBA news from a Ghanaian desk: stars, drafts, contracts and injuries
The NBA as it is followed in Ghana: the stars, the draft, the contracts, the injury reports and the Ghana-born players who made it to the league.
What the NBA desk follows
The NBA is the league Ghanaian fans follow most closely outside Africa, and the one most young Ghanaian players aim for. This desk covers the season as it is followed from Accra and Kumasi: the stars and their records, the draft, the contracts, the injury reports and the All-Star weekend, with the players of Ghanaian roots who reached the league reported next to them.
Ghana's own line into the league is short and recent. Ben Bentil, drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2016 out of Providence College, became the first Ghana-born player to appear in an NBA game when he played four minutes for the Dallas Mavericks against the Atlanta Hawks in March 2017. Nathan Mensah, born in Accra, reached the league with the Charlotte Hornets after five seasons at San Diego State.
The draft and the classes that shaped the league
Every NBA career starts at the draft, and most of them start in the US college game, which is why college results and the March tournament are part of the desk. The 2003 class is the one most often held up as the best of the modern era: LeBron James went first to Cleveland, Carmelo Anthony third to Denver, Chris Bosh fourth to Toronto and Dwyane Wade fifth to Miami. Arguments over whether another class beats it come back almost every summer.
Africa has its own place in draft history. Hakeem Olajuwon, born in Lagos, was the first overall pick in 1984 and went on to two championships with Houston. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the son of Nigerian parents, was picked 15th in 2013 and became the league's Most Valuable Player in 2019 and 2020 before leading Milwaukee to the 2021 title. Their careers are the reference point whenever a West African prospect enters the draft.
Contracts, injuries and the calendar
Contract news follows a fixed rhythm. Rookie-scale extensions are agreed before a player's fourth season; in October 2021 Mikal Bridges and the Phoenix Suns agreed a four-year, $90 million extension of that kind. Free agency opens each summer, and the trades that follow reshape rosters before training camp.
Injury reports are given as the teams announce them, with the expected time out where a club names one. In January 2022 Kevin Durant sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and missed weeks of the Brooklyn Nets' season. The calendar itself can move: the 2021 All-Star Game, planned for Indianapolis, was played in Atlanta in March 2021 because of the pandemic, and Indianapolis was given the 2024 game instead.
Records the league measures itself by
Some numbers come back in almost every season's coverage. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single game for Philadelphia in 1962, and Kobe Bryant's 81 against Toronto in 2006 is the closest anyone has come since. LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record of 38,387 points in February 2023 and kept adding to it.
Among the clubs, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers shared the record of 17 championships until Boston won an 18th in 2024. When a player of Ghanaian roots plays one of those teams, or a record falls on a night a Ghanaian is on the floor, the report says so, and the figures are given as they stood on that date.
The NBA in Africa
The league's reach on the continent runs through several projects. Basketball Without Borders camps have brought NBA players and coaches to Africa since 2003, the league opened an office in Johannesburg in 2010, and the Basketball Africa League, run with FIBA, played its first season in Kigali in May 2021. The Basketball Africa League prize money report covers what that first champion was paid.
For Ghanaian players the route into the league usually passes through US high schools and colleges, and their later careers are followed on the Ghanaians abroad desk. Statistics on this desk are given as they stood on the day of the report, so a scoring average or a contract figure always belongs to the season it was quoted in.
NBA stories with a Ghanaian angle
Guaynabo —
Amida Brimah returns to Puerto Rico's Mets de Guaynabo for 2022
Ghana center Amida Brimah signed with Mets de Guaynabo in June 2022 to see out the Puerto Rican season, returning to the club he had taken to the BSN finals a year earlier.
Accra —
Basketball Africa League prize money for the winner, seen from Ghana
Basketball Africa League prize money has a figure: the club that wins the first season will pocket $150,000.
San Diego —
San Diego State's Nathan Mensah diagnosed with blood clots
Ghana forward-center Nathan Mensah missed seven straight San Diego State games in early 2020 because of a blood clot in his lungs.
Ben Bentil makes NBA debut, plays for the Dallas Mavericks
Ghana forward Ben Bentil became the first Ghana-born player to appear in an NBA game when he played four minutes for the Dallas Mavericks against the Atlanta Hawks in March 2017.
Ben Bentil signs for CBA side Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers
Ghana forward Ben Bentil signed with Chinese Basketball Association side Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers in November 2016, a month after the Boston Celtics let him go.