Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell told ESPN that African basketball has developed to the point where players from the continent no longer have to mirror his former Houston Rockets teammate, Hakeem Olajuwon.
Cassell, having arrived in Johannesburg for Basketball without Borders last year, made an observation which echoed one previously made by another former teammate of theirs with the Rockets, Clyde Drexler, on a visit to South Africa last December.
Drexler had told ESPN: "For a while, there was only the big guys - Manute Bol, [Dikembe] Mutombo, Hakeem. Now, you've got smaller guys [in the mold of] Luol Deng.
"You've got a bunch of other guys who have come from Africa who can really ball and I'm sure there are going to be even more in the future. It's a beautiful thing to see."
After a weekend spent coaching some of the brightest prospects around Africa, Cassell concurred.
"It's all kinds of players here. You've got kids that can throw the ball; you've got great shooters... You've got athletic guys. You've got guys who just love basketball, so the game of basketball is in great hands in Africa," Cassell told ESPN.
In a 2023 press conference, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr commented on how African players have developed a wider range of skills, leading to players such as his own Jonathan Kuminga emerging.
Kerr said at a press conference: "I think that's a natural evolution of the African players in the NBA. Now that we have training centers in Africa, they're being coached and developed.
"I think you're going to see more and more players coming from the continent who are skilled and capable of doing much more than the first wave of African impact on the NBA."
Kuminga moved to the US from DR Congo in 2016, a year before the creation of the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal. Ulrich Chomche (Toronto Raptors) and Ibou Badji (formerly Portland Trail Blazers) have earned regular season minutes in the NBA, while Khaman Maluach (Duke) is a projected first round pick in 2025.
All three of these NBA Academy Africa products are big men, with another former academy big - Florida Gators' Rueben Chinyelu - joining Maluach on the college circuit.
However, the academy has also produced a well-respected homegrown guard in Thierry Darlan (Delaware Blue Coats). Another, Aginaldo Neto, is turning heads in the US.
Darlan was the 2022 BWB Africa MVP and Chomche the Defensive MVP, while Maluach was MVP the following year.
Last year was one of Africa's most successful basketball years, with Nigeria's D'Tigress becoming the first team - men's or women's - to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics.
South Sudan men were unlucky not to progress to the quarter-finals themselves at the first attempt after an historic win over Puerto Rico was followed by respectable performances in defeats to the USA and Serbia.
Watch the Basketball Africa League on ESPN's channels in Africa (SuperSport 218 and 219, Starsat 248).