JOHANNESBURG AND NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced today a series of youth development, community service and business events in the week leading up to the NBA Africa Game 2018, the NBA’s third game in Africa, which will take place Saturday, Aug. 4 at 5:00 pm CAT at Sun Arena at Time Square in Pretoria, South Africa.

The NBA Africa Game 2018 will air live in sub-Saharan Africa on Kwesé Free Sports, Kwesé Sports 1, the Kwesé TV app, as well as Kwesé’s partner pay-TV and free-to-air channels.  The game will air live in the U.S. at 11:00 am ET on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes (in Spanish), and the ESPN app.

The week of activities, which will embody Nelson Mandela’s legacy and his belief that sports have the power to inspire and change the world, include the 16^th edition of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa, a Habitat for Humanity service project, a training camp for the boys and girls teams that will represent Africa & Middle East at the first Jr. NBA World Championship, a youth leadership program hosted by the NBPA Foundation for eight students to learn about Nelson Mandela’s legacy and participate in the week’s activities, and the second NBA Africa Innovation Summit.

As part of today’s announcement, the NBA and NBPA also announced the Official Partners of the NBA Africa Game 2018:

• Brand South Africa (Official Marketing Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018)
• Econet (Official Telecommunications Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018 and the NBA Africa Innovation Summit)
• Kwesé Sports (Official Broadcast Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018)
• Nike (Official Apparel Provider for the NBA Africa Game 2018 and BWB Africa)
• SAP (Official Business Analytics Software Partner of the NBA Africa Game 2018 and the NBA Africa Innovation Summit)

“We are excited that the week of activities leading up to the third NBA Africa Game in four years will honor Nelson Mandela’s centenary and his belief that sport has the power to change the world,” said NBA Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, Amadou Gallo Fall.  “Our youth development and community outreach programs as well as the second NBA Africa Innovation Summit will demonstrate our commitment to growing basketball across the continent while using the transformative power of our game to foster positive social change.  We are grateful to all the players, our partners and our fans for their continued support.”

Basketball Without Borders Africa:
The NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will conduct the 16^th edition of BWB Africa, which will bring together 78 of the top boys and girls from 29 African countries to learn directly from current and former NBA, WNBA and FIBA players, legends and coaches.   BWB, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, begins today and runs through Aug. 4 at the American International School of Johannesburg.  Nike, a BWB global partner since 2002, will outfit the campers and coaches with Nike apparel and footwear.

NBA Cares and NBPA Foundation Events in the Community:
As part of NBA Africa Game 2018 and BWB Africa efforts, NBA Cares – the league’s global social responsibility program – will host a series of events to leave a lasting legacy in the community.  Later today, Hoops 4 Hope, a partner on the BWB camp for more than 12 years, will conduct a life skills seminar for all BWB campers, as well as NBA and WNBA players, coaches and legends, using interactive basketball activities to focus on leadership and character development.  On Thursday, Aug. 2, in partnership with the NBPA Foundation, NBA and WNBA players, coaches, legends, executives and guests will volunteer to build 10 homes in Lawley Extension, Gauteng with Habitat for Humanity South Africa.  At the completion of this project, the NBA will have created 87 places to live, learn and play in seven countries in Africa.

Throughout the week, the NBPA Foundation will host “More Than a Game”, a youth leadership program for eight students from Chicago and Johannesburg to learn about Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy and participate in the week’s activities.  The program will focus on exploring the intersection between basketball and social justice through learning about Nelson Mandela’s life as an activist, statesman and philanthropist.

Additionally, NBA players, coaches and guests will visit the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory on Friday, Aug. 3 and Saturday, Aug. 4 to learn more about the legacy left by Mandela and his profound influence on sport and society.  In honor of the centenary of Nelson Mandela, the NBA Africa Game 2018 will be played in support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Jr. NBA Africa & Middle East Team Training Camp:
The boys and girls teams that will represent Africa and the Middle East at the Jr. NBA World Championship, a first-of-its kind global youth basketball tournament for the top 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from around the world, are participating in a training camp at the American International School of Johannesburg that began yesterday and runs through Aug. 2, before departing for the U.S. later this week.  The inaugural Jr. NBA World Championship will take place at the state-of-the-art ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla. from Aug. 7-12.

NBA Africa Innovation Summit:
The second NBA Africa Innovation Summit, which will be hosted at The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Houghton, Johannesburg on Aug. 3 in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Econet and SAP, will once again bring together leaders from business, entertainment, philanthropy, sports, social entrepreneurship, technology and youth development to share and discuss innovative ways of empowering and inspiring youth to drive positive social change in Africa.

NBA Sports Medicine Symposium:
The NBA and NBA Physicians Association will host a sports medicine symposium at the Holiday Inn Johannesburg – Rosebank on Aug. 3, which will bring together international leaders in orthopedics, sports medicine and performance to highlight best practices in player health and wellness.  The symposium will provide an opportunity for participants, including NBA team physicians and athletic trainers, to exchange ideas and develop relationships between the NBA and international experts, with the goal of improving player health and wellness in basketball and across sports.

The NBA Africa Game 2018 will once again feature a Team Africa vs. Team World format.  Team Africa will be composed of players born in Africa or with direct family ties to the continent, and Team World will be composed of players from the rest of the world.  Tickets are available by visiting Computicket.com or Computicket’s retail outlets in South Africa.

The NBA has held two sold-out Africa Games, in Johannesburg in 2015 and 2017, in support of charities including the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages South Africa (SOSCVSA) and UNICEF.  There are more than 80 current and former NBA players from Africa or with direct family ties to the continent, including Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria) and Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

For more information, fans can visit www.NBA.com/Africa, the league’s official online destination in Africa, and follow the NBA on Facebook (NBA Africa) and Twitter (@NBA_Africa).

About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the NBA G League and the NBA 2K League.  The NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 50 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2017-18 season featured 108 international players from a record 42 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with 1.5 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

 About the NBPA
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is the union for current professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Established in 1954, the NBPA’s mission is to ensure that the rights of NBA players are protected and that every conceivable measure is taken to assist players in maximizing their opportunities and achieving their goals — on and off the court. The NBPA advocates on behalf of the best interest of all NBA players, including the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, the filing of grievances on behalf of the players, or counseling players on benefits, educational and post-NBA career opportunities.
In addition, the NBPA provides a forum for players to participate in union activities — from executive leadership roles, to team representative positions, global community outreach initiatives. The NBPA offers each NBA player the opportunity to get involved in the democratic institution that was created for, continues to exist for and is run by them.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of its members and providing support and assistance to persons, communities and organizations throughout the world that seek to improve the lives of those in need.