25 Sep 2019

Botswana Basketball League (BBL) transfer window closed on September 20 and the delay in the commencement of the 2019 season has set tongues wagging within basketball circles.

The delay has become a pain to most teams, which had pinned their hopes on winning the national championship.

The league was scheduled to resume on June 8, but failed due to lack of funds among other challenges.

Meanwhile, the BBL transfer window closure put to rest players movement speculations that lasted the whole week since the window opened from September 16.

Despite the initial hype among basketball stalwarts concerning players movement and clubs’ catches, the transfer window failed to live up to the hype as only seven players switched clubs.

While benchwarmers made up the majority of the seven transferred players, one of the notable movement is that of Teko Sekgwama from Troopers to Police V.

Having previously been on the Spartans roaster, Sekgwana is no stranger to big transfer moves as in 2014, he moved from Spartans to Troopers.

With Police V at the summit of the BBL league, Sekgwama joins other elite superstars in the likes of Thuto Shai, Warinkadwa Naritha  and Churchhill Barrows, who have in the past, orchestrated most of Police V victories.

Other transfers headlines include Baledzi Shangwa, who has retraced his steps back to UB Relics from champions, Dolphins.

Shangwa dumped UB Relics last season and signed with Dolphins hoping to make a mark in the starting five but he found the going tough as he could only average less than five minutes per game.

Shangwa’s most noteworthy roles will be as a defensive rebounder and as a post passer.

His presence will allow UB Relics to pursue blocks without the fear of giving up easy second-chance points, and it will also lead to even better scoring opportunities for the team as Relics looks for a promotional spot from League B to League A.

Police ladies on the other hand, registered Leno Katlholo and Dineo Machete from Dolphins and UB Relics respectively, while Motown Eagles brought in Nicholas Bill from Glen Valley  Tigers  and Teddy Akanyang from BDF V.

Boago Kgengwenyane also signed with BDF V from Police V.

Meanwhile, BBL chairperson, Peter Ubakar was happy with the manner at which the transfer window unfolded. 

He said even though there was less activity in the market, it was pleasing to note that all teams involved followed the rules and regulations.

To determine the importance of each transfer, Ubakar indicated that players’ previous statistics, projected fit on the roaster and the post season potential of the team were all taken into consideration.

 He further stated that the league was at an intense stage as it approaches the play-offs period hence teams where cautions not to fiddle with their roasters. 

Ubakar reiterated that all teams had expressed their willingness to honour all fixtures despite the financial constrains that the association was faced with. Ends