Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco), and either Monastir or Tunis (Tunisia) will be the host cities for the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League.

Kigali (Rwanda) will host the first ever BAL final four and final.

Nike and Jordan Brand will outfit the teams as its main sponsor. 

The league will begin play in March 2020.

Peja Stojakovic cited the amount of NBA talent on Serbia's national team for his confidence ahead of this summer's FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"With guys like (Bogdan) Bogdanovic, (Nemanja) Bjelica, (Milos) Teodosic, (Nikola) Jokic and all the others, you can go far in the competition and bring something back home. They're one of the best teams in the world and they are going to have a great campaign this summer," said Stojakovic.

Serbia are in Group D alongside Italy, Angola, and the Philippines. 

Serbia came in second at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, the 2016 Olympics, and FIBA EuroBasket 2017

"I love the talent and chemistry in the national team. There are so many guys, so much talent on this team. I'm looking forward to seeing them play in China and I think that they have every reason to be ambitious after what they've done the last couple of years."

Ben Simmons is "doubtful" to play for Australia in the upcoming FIBA World Cup, his agent Rich Paul told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Simmons implied that he would play in the tournament earlier in May.

The Australian team will still feature Joe Ingles, Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills, and Aron Baynes. 

Australia are in Group H with Canada, Senegal, and Lithuania. Group play begins on August 31st.