The National Basketball Association (NBA) has officially excluded the Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR) basketball team from the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) season. The decision follows a series of inquiries from U.S. lawmakers regarding the league’s financial ties to the Rwandan government, as reported by ACP.
In a formal response to U.S. senators, NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum confirmed that the team had been removed from the tournament. This exclusion is directly linked to sanctions imposed by the United States government in March 2026 against the Rwandan military, which Washington has accused of fueling the ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The APR club is funded directly by the Rwandan military.
Senators Demand NBA Explanation by November Deadline
The NBA’s move came after a direct challenge from two members of the United States Senate. On October 23, Senator Jeffrey Merkley and Senator Marsha Blackburn sent a formal letter to the league, questioning the ethics of maintaining a partnership with an entity that receives funding from a government accused of human rights violations. The senators issued a deadline of November 2, 2026, for the NBA to provide a written explanation regarding its continued business relationship with Rwanda.
The U.S. government further escalated pressure last week by imposing additional sanctions on the Rwandan Ministry of Defense, citing its alleged support for the M23 rebel group, which maintains control over significant territory in the eastern DRC. The government of Rwanda has consistently denied providing support to the armed group.
Status of the Basketball Africa League Partnership
While the APR team has been removed, the broader commercial relationship between the BAL and Rwanda remains a central point of discussion. The country serves as a major partner for the pan-African league, paying millions of dollars annually for marketing rights, including the hosting of playoff games and the league finals at the 10,000-seat BK Arena in Kigali.
The APR club, which finished third in the BAL in 2024 and 2025, has been replaced in the 2026 competition by the RSSB Tigers, another local Rwandan club. The NBA has stated that the APR will remain suspended from the league as long as the U.S. sanctions against the Rwandan military remain in effect.
🔵BBC News: A Monumental Journalistic Embarrassment! Six Months Late to the Story, While #Rwanda Has Already Made BAL History. BBC News has once again attracted criticism over its coverage of Rwanda, this time for presenting the removal of APR BBC from the Basketball Africa… pic.twitter.com/guqVy8iiYb
Ongoing Questions Regarding League Policy
In their correspondence, Senators Merkley and Blackburn explicitly asked the league to define its “red line” for accepting funding from regimes accused of systemic human rights abuses.
As of November 4, 2026, the NBA has not publicly detailed any broader shifts in its international partnership criteria beyond the specific removal of the military-funded club. The Rwandan government has not provided a public response to requests for comment regarding the team’s exclusion from the tournament.
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