Samkelo Brian Cele (born 28 December 1997) is a South African professional basketball player who plays for Petro de Luanda of the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

(BAL). Born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, he played college basketball for three different universities. Cele began playing professionally in 2023 and was an

All-BAL First Team The All-First Team is an annual Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, Internat ...

selection in 2024, and is a two-time BAL All-Defensive Team selection, all while playing for the Tigers.

Early life

Born in

, Cele received a basketball scholarship for

Durban High School Durban High School (Better known as D.H.S) is a public English medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Musgrave in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. DHS opened its doors in 1866 in two rooms and with seven ...

, one of the best schools in the city. After graduating in 2016, he moved to the United States to play for Bull City Prep in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. Cele also attended a basketball camp in Serbia in 2015. Cele played with the

KwaZulu Marlins The KwaZulu Marlins are a South African basketball team based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Established in 1994, the Marlins play in the Basketball National League The Basketball National League (BNL) is the pre-eminent male professional basketba ...

of the South African top tier

Basketball National League The Basketball National League (BNL) is the pre-eminent male professional basketball league in South Africa. The league was founded in 2013, however, before the Premier Basketball League had been running as the country's premier basketball leagu ...

(BNL) in 2015, at age 17.

College career

Cele played for

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a Public college, public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is th ...

for two years, for

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

for one year in 2020–21, and

Marist College Marist University is a private university in Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Marist was founded by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute, in 1905 to prepare brothers for their ...

in 2021–22. With the Marist Red Foxes, Cele started in 27 games. He then finished his career with the

University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public liberal arts college in Chickasha, Oklahoma. It is the only public college in Oklahoma with a strictly liberal arts–focused curriculum and is a member of the Council of Publ ...

in the NAIA, because he was ineligible to continue in the NCAA, and was named an All-American third-team selection in 2023. He averaged 20.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 52.8% from the field and 41.3% on three-pointers.

Professional career

2022–23 season

In 2023, Cele signed his first professional contract with the South African team

Cape Town Tigers The Cape Town Tigers are a South African professional basketball team founded in Cape Town. The Tigers have played in the Basketball National League (BNL) and played in three seasons of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) between 2022 and 2024. ...

of the

(BAL). On 6 May 2023, on the final day of the Nile Conference, Cele scored 28 points in a win over

City Oilers City Oilers is a basketball club based in Lugogo, Kampala, Uganda. The team competes in the Ugandan National Basketball League (NBL), where it has won 10 championships, the most in league history. The Oilers currently also play in the Basketball A ...

, that clinched the Tigers' playoff spot. He was named to the BAL All-Defensive Team for the

2023 BAL season The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, was the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 11 March 2023 and ended on 27 May 2023. The 2023 BAL Playoffs, playoffs were played in the BK Arena in Kigali, which ...

. Cele averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game and shot 46.8 percent from the field in his four BAL games.

2023–24 season

In the 2023–24 season, Cele took a leap in his game and helped the Tigers to the fourth place in the

2024 BAL season The 2024 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 4, was the 4th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 9 March 2024 and ended with the final on 1 June 2024, which was played in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda for a fourth c ...

. He averaged 20.2 points per game (second in the league) and 2.4 steals per game (third-most in the league). He was named to his first

, becoming the first South African to be named to the team; Cele was also named to another BAL All-Defensive Team. Cele played for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

in the

2024 NBA Summer League The 2024 NBA Summer League (branded as ''NBA 2K25'' Summer League 2024 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas ...

. In August 2024, he joined

Dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

of Burundi for the playoffs of the

Viva Basketball League The Burundian Basketball Championship (in French: Championnat National du Burundi), for sponsorship reason the Viva Basketball League, is a semi-professional basketball league that is the highest level of the sport in Burundi. The league is organi ...

2024–25 season

In March 2025, Cele joined Spanish club

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, his first European club. On May 12, 2025, he was announced by the defending champions Petro de Luanda for the playoffs of the

2025 BAL season The 2025 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 5, will be the 5th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season will begin on 5 April and end on 14 June 2025 with the final. The playoffs and finals will be held in Pretoria, South Africa, ...

National team career

Cele made his debut for the South Africa national team in February 2024 during the pre-qualifiers for AfroBasket 2025.

BAL career statistics

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cele, Samkelo Sportspeople from Durban 1997 births Living people Cape Town Tigers players Marist Red Foxes men's basketball players Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen basketball players Alumni of Durban High School South African men's basketball players South African expatriate basketball people South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate basketball people in the United States Dynamo BBC players 21st-century South African sportsmen Real Valladolid Baloncesto players South African expatriate sportspeople in Spain Atlético Petróleos de Luanda basketball players