Top 10 Players to Watch in the 2025 BAL Playoffs (PART 1)

Shortlisting players who can make a difference in the 2025 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs is anything but easy, given their potential impact on their teams in Pretoria.

There are so many talented players set to showcase their skills that we had to split this article into two parts.

The BAL Playoffs will take place from Friday, June 6, to Sunday, June 14, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

Here’s part 1 of the Top 10 Players to watch in the 2025 BAL Playoffs:

Jaylen Adams (Al Ahli Tripoli)

Born: May 4, 1996
Height: 6-1
Position: Point Guard
Team: Al Ahli Tripoli
Nationality: American

The former Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks NBA player made his BAL debut in style during the Nile Conference in Kigali earlier this month, averaging 18.5 points and five assists per game.

Adams, the winner and MVP of the 2022 Australian League with the Sydney Kings, was one of the reasons the Libyan champions had a perfect 6-0 record in the regular season.

Mohamed Sadi (Al Ahli Tripoli)

Born: August 5, 1995
Height: 6-4
Position: Guard
Team: Al Ahli Tripoli
Nationality: Libyan

Sadi, who made his BAL debut in 2021 playing for the Senegalese team AS Douanes, is known for his warrior spirit on both ends of the floor.

Al Ahli Tripoli head coach Fouad Abou Chacra named him the team’s MVP, citing not only his team-high 135 efficiency rating and 14.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, but also his never-die attitude.

George King (Al Ittihad Alexandria)

Born: January 15, 1994
Height: 6-6
Position: Shooting Guard
Nationality: American

King, one of three former NBA players in the current BAL season along with George Adams and Chasson Randle, displayed differentiated shooting ability during the Kalahari Conference.

He is disciplined defensively, but it’s on the offensive end that he causes the most damage to opponents. He averaged 16 points in Al Ittihad’s 6-0 regular season run.

Patrick Hardy Jr. (US Monastir)

Born: April 6, 1998
Height: 6-2
Position: Point Guard
Nationality: American

We learned that most of US Monastir’s offensive plays involved Hardy Jr. in some way, contributing enormously to their 4-2 record in the Sahara Conference.

He registered the highest efficiency rating of 107, leading the Tunisian champions with 17.3 points and five assists per game. Patrick Jr. is a decent three-point shooter who sinks three three-pointers per game.

Peter Olisemeka (Rivers Hoopers)

Born: December 9, 1991
Height: 6-9
Position: Center
Nationality: Nigerian

Olisemeka's strongest asset is rebounding, so it came as no surprise that he had 68 rebounds in six games, the highest in the BAL regular season.

The Nigerian power forward set a season record with 17 rebounds in a game and became the only player to finish with eight offensive rebounds in the 94–77 loss to Al Ittihad Alexandria on April 12 in Rabat, Morocco.

Chasson Randle (APR)

Born: February 5, 1993
Height: 6-1
Position: Point Guard
Nationality: American

Randle, the 2018 EuroLeague champion with Real Madrid, made his debut with APR, averaging 16 points and 3.3 assists per game.

Randle, who had short stints with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks, had the third-highest three-point shooting percentage in the regular season at 48.8%.

Yanick Moreira (Petro de Luanda)

Born: July 31, 1991
Height: 6-10
Position: Center
Nationality: Angolan

Before shooting 7-for-8 and scoring 16 points in Petro de Luanda's 103-74 win over Kriol Star, the former G-League champion with the Toronto 905 became the second player this season - after Al Ittihad’s Youssef Aboushousha's 6-for-6 - to hit all five of his shots and finish with 11 points in Petro's 65-64 loss to ASC Ville de Dakar.

Moreira, A 2009 Basketball Without Border Africa camper, is the only player to have won titles in the G-League, the BAL, and the FIBA Champions League.

Nuni Omot (APR)

Born: October 3, 1994
Height: 6-8
Position: Small Forward
Nationality: South Sudanese

Omot made his mark in the BAL by leading the Egyptian giants, Al Ahly SC, to the 2023 title. In the process, he took home the season MVP award.

A regular member of the South Sudanese national team, Omot competed in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, averaging 17 points per game. He also wore the Bright Stars uniform at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines.

Anas Mahmoud (Al Ittihad Alexandria)

Born: September 5, 1995
Height: 7-0
Position: Power Forward/Center
Nationality: Egyptian

Mahmoud, who won the 2021 BAL with Zamalek, is known for his shot-blocking and rebounding abilities. These abilities earned him the 2022 BAL Defensive Player of the Year Award.

He is a regular member of the Egyptian national team and helped his country finish second at the 2013 AfroBasket when he was 17. He then embarked on a US college basketball career at the University of Louisville.

Omar Abada (FUS Rabat)

Born: April 20, 1993
Height: 6-1
Position: Point Guard
Nationality: Tunisian

Abada just joined the Moroccan champions for the BAL playoffs after helping Club Africain win the 2025 Tunisian league title earlier this month.

He made headlines when he was named to the 2021 BAL First Team in a tournament that helped US Monastir secure second place.

Abada is in his third BAL season and is a two-time FIBA AfroBasket champion with Tunisia (2017 and 2021).