Joakim Noah wants to ‘change the narrative’ about African basketball — Andscape

The NBA has had African American owners among its former stars with Michael Jordan with the Charlotte Hornets, and Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade as part owners of the Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz, respectively, and Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal previously owning a minority share in the Los Angeles Lakers, and Sacramento Kings, respectively. Perhaps lesser-known are also some former NBA stars who have invested in the NBA’s Basketball Africa League.

Hill, Junior Bridgeman, Luol Deng, Dikembe Mutombo, and Joakim Noah are all former NBA stars who have invested in the BAL. Investor funding has gone to the growth of the BAL and the NBA’s presence and engagement across the continent. The BAL will embark on its third season with 12 teams from 12 countries starting Saturday in Dakar, Senegal, also playing 38 games in Cairo, and Kigali, Rwanda, over three months.

Noah’s pride in being an investor and supporter of the BAL runs as strong as his family ties to Africa. His family, which includes his father, former tennis star Yannick Noah, is from Yaoundé, Cameroon.

“I had just retired from basketball. Just finished the [NBA] bubble. I knew that my career was over and right away there was an opportunity to invest in BAL. I jumped on it,” Joakim Noah, 38, recently told Andscape in a phone interview. “This was something that was very important to me on so many levels. I had been going back to Africa once a year since I was a kid on family trips, going to visit my grandfather, my great-grandmother. So, my heritage was there in Cameroon. I was spending a lot of time there. And it was always very tough because every time I wanted to do things on the continent I always felt very alone, and I saw how alone my father was as well, in terms of doing work on the continent, especially when it came to basketball.

“I knew that BAL as a platform would definitely inspire … It brings me back to my family heritage and the bridge of being able to have people from my family in America and being able to connect the dots back to the continent. This is something that’s very special. More than just a basketball league. I knew that this would be something that would be unique and special on so many levels.”

Noah plans to attend BAL games played in Senegal and Rwanda this season. The following is a Q&A with the two-time NBA All-Star as he talks deeper about his African lineage, refurbishing a court in Cameroon, his hopes for the growth of basketball in Africa, BAL president Amadou Fall’s impact on basketball on the continent, his NBA career and much more during a recent interview with Andscape.

Most NBA fans of yours probably think of you being from France and you were born in the United States. But your family is from…