2025 BAL Playoffs

The 2025 BAL playoffs will be the postseason tournament of the 2025 BAL season which determined the champions of the fifth Basketball Africa League (BAL) season. The playoffs will begin on 6 June 2025 with the seeding games and finish on 14 June 2025 with the final. The playoffs will be held in the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

Qualified teams

Al Ahli Tripoli, Al Ittihad Alexandria and Kriol Star made their playoff debuts. Kriol Star became the first team from Cape Verde to qualify for the playoffs.

Summary

Signings

During the break between the group phase and the playoffs, teams were allowed to sign new players.

* Jo Lual-Acuil, the Most Valuable Player in 2024, joined Al Ittihad Alexandria
* Omar Abada, a former All-BAL selection, joined FUS Rabat
* Samkelo Cele, a 2024 All-BAL First Team member, joined the defending champions Petro de Luanda
* Nuni Omot, a BAL champion and MVP in 2023 with Al Ahly, joined APR

Ranking

To determine the match-ups in the seeding games, the eight teams were ranked based on their performance across group phase games.

Seeding games

''Note: All times are in East Africa Time.''

7th–8th seed game

1st–2nd seed game

5th–6th seed game

3rd–4th seed game

Bracket

The playoff pairings were determined by the seeding games.

Quarterfinals

(2) Al Ahli Tripoli vs. (7) Kriol Star

It was the first official BAL game between the teams, however, they had met once in the Road to BAL group stage in November, in a game which Al Ahli won. Fabian White Jr. led the Libyans with 34 points and 13 rebounds, and an efficiency of 39. Assem Marei contributed a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. On the losing side, Joel Ntambwe led all Kriol Star scorers with 25. The Al Ahli bench outscored Kriol Star's bench 26–3 in the game. Al Ahli became the second Libyan team to reach the semifinals, following Al Ahly Ly in the previous season.

(1) Al Ittihad Alexandria vs. (8) FUS Rabat

This was the third game this season between these two teams, who faced each other twice in the Kalahari Conference. FUS Rabat guard Nisre Zouzoua hit a sidestep three-pointer with two seconds on the clock to tie the game at 74–74, and which eventually sent the game to overtime. In the overtime, FUS shot two-for-seven from the field, and three-from-eight from the free throw line, as Al Ittihad pulled through to advance to the semifinals. Jo Lual-Acuil had his second double-double of the playoffs with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Kyle Vinales also contributed 16 points. Majok Deng added 15 points from the bench. For the losing side John Jordan led all scorers with 23 points, while

(4) Rivers Hoopers vs. (5) APR

This was the third game in BAL history between the Rivers Hoopers and APR, who played each other twice in the 2024 Sahara Conference. APR led from start to finish and dominated the Hoopers, and thus became the second team to advance to the BAL semifinals, following Patriots in 2021.

(3) US Monastir vs. (6) Petro de Luanda

The quarterfinal was a rematch of the 2022 BAL finals, in which Monastir won its first BAL title, as well as the fourth BAL game between the two teams. In the end of the opening quarter, Petro went on a 12–0 run to finish the quarter 28–16, after which US Monastir never led. Petro de Luanda qualified for the BAL semifinals for a record-extending fifth time in a row. Monastir was eliminated in the quarterfinals for a second year in a row.

Semifinals

(2) Al Ahli Tripoli vs. (4) APR

This was the third game between both teams of the season,. Fabian White Jr. played all 40 minutes of the game, and led Al Ahli with 23 points, on 9-for-14 shooting, while also grabbing 7 rebounds. Al Ahli Tripoli became the second Libyan team to reach the BAL final, following Al Ahly Ly in the previous year.

(2) Al Ittihad Alexandria vs. (6) Petro de Luanda

The defending champions Petro de Luanda ended Al Ittihad's unbeaten run, handing them their first loss of the season and eliminating them from title contention. The Angolans took a lead in the first quarter, and led as much as by 25 points at one point in the game. Al Ittihad struggled from behind the arc, shooting 5-for-26 from three-point range. Petro de Luanda's bench was also superior, outscoring Al Ittihad 60–35. Kendrick Ray led all players in scoring with 21 points. Petro qualified for its second straight final apperance.

Third place game: (1) Al Ittihad Alexandria vs. (4) APR

APR dominated the third place game against Al Ittihad, scoring a league record 123 points in the game, breaking the record which was set by Al Ahli Tripoli in the regular season. They also scored 74 points by halftime, the most in league history, and set a new record for most points in an opening quarter, with 38. APR made 16 three-pointers, also setting a new league record. Forward Axel Mpoyo hit 10 three-pointers, and set a new record for most three-point field goals by a player in a BAL game, overtaking the record set by Will Perry. The third place by APR was the best result by any Rwandan team, matching the performance by Patriots who were fourth in 2021. Al Ittihad's finish in fourth place was the second-worst result by an Egyptian team since the establishment of the league.

Final: (2) Al Ahli Tripoli vs. (6) Petro de Luanda

References

Playoffs
BAL

{{2025 BAL season
BAL