Steve Kerr: NBA legend keen to help develop African talent

Nine-time NBA champion Steve Kerr has praised the widespread basketball talent on African soil, saying it needs to be correctly harnessed.

Kerr, the head coach of Golden State who will also be leading Team USA at the 2024 Olympics,, external was in the Egyptian capital Cairo last week for a Basketball Without Borders (BWB) camp.

“There’s so much talent here,” Kerr told the BBC World Service.

“It’s important for the NBA to try to continue to develop all these young players so that’s why we’re here helping to teach them.

“We’re seeing more and more African players become not just NBA players but All-Stars, when you think about Giannis [Antetokounmpo], Pascal Siakam – players like that – and, obviously, Dikembe [Mutombo] years ago.”

Antetokounmpo, who was named the NBA Finals’ best player last year, has Nigerian roots, Siakam hails from Cameroon – as does Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid – while Kinshasa-born Mutombo was an eight-time All-Star.

Held over the last four days of August in Cairo, over 60 top male and female players aged 18 and under from across Africa had the chance to learn directly from current and former National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s NBA and international players and coaches.

“I just want them to have fun, learn, get a little bit better and then go home and take some of the things that they’ve learned and share them,” said Kerr, who has won four of his NBA titles as a coach.

Orlando Magic centre Mo Bamba, whose family roots lie in Mali and Ivory Coast, was among the players in attendance in Egypt alongside Kerr.

First held in Italy in 2001, BWB staged its first camp in Africa in 2003 and has helped several attendees reach the NBA in North America, which is the pinnacle of the sport.

Twelve former BWB Africa campers have been drafted into the NBA since 2003, among them both Siakam, who attended a 2012 camp and became NBA champion in 2019 with Toronto Raptors, and Embiid, who was in the 2011 camp and is now a five-time NBA All-Star.

Cameroon-born Christian Koloko (Toronto Raptors) and Senegal’s Khalifa Diop (Cleveland Cavaliers) were both picked up in the 2022 draft, re-emphasising the opportunities the BWB camps provide to participants internationally.

Kerr was one of five NBA head coaches who shared their expertise with the younger generation this year, with campers and coaches also participating in life skills, leadership development and community service programming.