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NBA Africa opens its fifth office on the continent in Nairobi, Kenya. Michael Finley is named Country Lead.

NBA Africa opens its fourth office on the continent in Cairo, Egypt. Mohamed Soliman is named Country Lead.

In February, NBA Africa opens its third office on the continent in Lagos, Nigeria. Gbemisola Abudu is named Vice President and Country Lead.

At the NBA Africa All-Star luncheon in Charlotte, North Carolina, the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announce their plan to launch the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a new professional league featuring 12 club teams across Africa. Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, and led by BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall, the BAL builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA regional office has organized in Africa and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America.

On August 4, following the 16th edition of BWB Africa, the NBA and NBPA host NBA Africa game 2018, the league’s third sold-out exhibition game in Africa at the Sun Arena at the Square in Pretoria, South Africa. The game is once again played in support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. On August 3, the second NBA Africa Innovation Summit takes place at the Nelson Mandela Center of Memory in Johannesburg and is attended by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and NBA players Carmelo Anthony, Luol Deng, and Serge Ibaka.

On August 5, following the 15th edition of BWB Africa, the NBA and NBPA host NBA Africa game 2017, the league's second sold-out exhibition game in Africa at Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa. The game is played in support of UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and SOS Children’s Villages Association of South Africa (SOSCVSA), and once again features a Team Africa vs Team World format. Additional activities in conjunction with the game include the league's first innovation summit, fan zone, and JR NBA festival in Africa.

The NBA and NBPA host the first NBA Africa game at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg on August 1. The sold-out game features a Team Africa vs Team World format and is played in support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages Association of South Africa, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Team Africa is comprised of players from the continent or with at least one African parent, and Team World is comprised of players from the rest of the world. Perennial NBA All-Star Chris Paul serves as the captain of Team World, while two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng (South Sudan) serves as the captain of Team Africa.

The NBA establishes its first JR NBA program on the continent in collaboration with the Royal Bafokeng Nation in the North-West province of South Africa. The collaboration lays the foundation for the growth of basketball in South Africa and the JR NBA’s expansion to 15 countries across the continent in the following years.

The first NBA office opens in Africa in Johannesburg – the same year that South Africa hosts the first FIBA World Cup on the continent. Amadou Gallo Fall is named NBA vice president and managing director for Africa. Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant visits Johannesburg and attends some of the World Cup matches. The eighth BWB camp is held in Senegal that year.

The first Basketball without Borders (BWB) Africa camp takes place in South Africa in September 2003. The camp brings together 100 of the top players aged 16-20 from 19 African counties to compete alongside one another and learn from current and former NBA and FIBA players, coaches, legends, and scouts including Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Michael Curry, Desagana Diop, Amadou Gallo Fall, Bob Lanier, Dikembe Mutombo, Mamadou Ndiaye, Donnie Nelson, Olumide Oyedeji, Tony Ronzone, and Sam Vincent. As of 2022, the NBA has hosted 18 BWB Africa camps that have collectively reached more than 1400 African youth from more than 30 countries across the continent, with 12 former NBA Africa campers drafted into the NBA including NBA All-Stars and Cameroon-natives Joel Embiid (BWB Africa 2011) and Pascal Siakam (BWB Africa 2012).

Democratic Republic of the Congo-native Mwadi Mabika joins the Los Angeles Sparks for the inaugural WNBA season, becoming the first African player in the WNBA. Mabika spends more than a decade with the Sparks, helping them to two consecutive WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002. She is a two-time WNBA All-Star and was a member of the Democratic Republic of the Congo team that won the silver medal at the 2003 All-Africa Games.

Olajuwon leads the Rockets to consecutive championships in 1994 and 1995, gaining a reputation as one of the top centers and clutch performers in NBA history by defeating Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, and Shaquille O’Neal along the way. Olajuwon is named NBA Finals MVP for both championship seasons and, in 1994, becomes the first foreign-born player to win the league's regular-season MVP award.

An NBA delegation including commissioner David Stern, executive vice president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Charles Grantham, Human Rights Activist and author Richard Lapchick, and current and former NBA players and coaches including Mike Bantom, Alvin Gentry, Alex English, Bob McAdoo, Dikembe Mutombo, and Wes Unseld travel to Africa for a series of youth basketball clinics and meetings. Gentry, English, McAdoo, and Unseld first travel to Kenya to lead basketball clinics for kids at a refugee camp. They then visit Lusaka, Zambia, to tour the Kanyama compound and conduct a basketball clinic for coaches. They then meet with commissioner Stern, Grantham, Lapchick, and Mutombo in South Africa, where the entire delegation tours the townships of Alexandra and Soweto and conduct a basketball clinic for children in Johannesburg. They also meet Nelson Mandela and have a dinner with the future president of South Africa, who shares with them his belief in the power of sports to change the world. Mandela is officially inaugurated on May 12, 1994.

Dikembe Mutombo was born on June 25, 1966, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets and played for six teams during his 18-year NBA career: the Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, and Houston Rockets. The 7’2” (2.18M) center who played collegiately for the Georgetown Hoyas is regarded as one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players of all time. He is an eight-time NBA All-Star, four-time defensive player of the year, and led the league in blocks three consecutive seasons (1994-96). He finished his career with the second-most blocks in NBA history after Hakeem Olajuwon. Mutombo was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 11, 2015. In his role as the NBA’s global ambassador, he travels around the world in support of the league's efforts to inspire and connect people everywhere through the power of basketball. Mutombo has been recognized for his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts in Africa, which include building a hospital in his native Kinshasa and a school in Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutombo regularly participates in Basketball without Borders Africa and, like Olajuwon, made history when he checked into the first-ever NBA Africa game in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015 and gave out a few of his signature finger wags at the age of 49.

South Sudan’s Manute Bol is drafted into the NBA. Maute Bol came from a family of extraordinarily tall men and women, and at 7’7” (2.31M), he is one of the tallest players in NBA history. Three years after Bol immigrated from South Sudan to the United States, he was selected with the 31st overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets. Bol spent 10 seasons in the NBA playing for the Bullets, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Heat. He twice led the league in blocks (1985-86 & 1988-89). After his NBA career, Bol worked closely as an advisory board member of Sudan Sunrise, which promotes reconciliation in Sudan and South Sudan. Maute Bol passed away on June 19, 2010.

Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon is selected first overall in the 1984 NBA Draft. During his 18-Year NBA career, Olajuwon staked his claim as one of the greatest players in NBA history. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and long considered a physical marvel since his days at the University of Houston, his dominating career was highlighted by leading the Houston Rockets to back-to-back NBA titles (1994-95), earning his place among the game's All-Time Greats. Olajuwon’s storybook career included a historic 1993-94 season when he became the first player to be named NBA most valuable player (MVP), NBA defensive player of the year, and NBA Finals MVP in the same season. Olajuwon is a 12-time NBA All-Star, Olympic Gold Medalist (1996), and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and is the namesake of the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year trophy and the Basketball Africa League’s MVP award. In August 2015, Olajuwon made history on African soil when he and Dikembe Mutombo briefly checked into the first-ever NBA Africa game in Johannesburg, South Africa. Olajuwon executed his signature “Dream Shake” at the age of 52.

Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson join Milwaukee Bucks Head coach Larry Costello for a three-week tour to Algeria, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, and Tanzania, which includes a series of youth basketball clinics and meetings with the countries’ respective national basketball teams.

Eleven-time NBA champion and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell takes a goodwill tour of Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya & Sudan.