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NBA games beamed live to SA

Ballito - United States National Basketball Association (NBA) games will soon be beamed live to South Africa, Sports minister Fikile Mbalula said on Thursday.

"It is a done deal. We are going to sign the deal in the United States on Saturday," he told delegates at a sport, environment and climate change seminar in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal.

Mbalula said the deal would be signed between the US NBA and the SA Basketball Association.

The games would be broadcast by the SA Broadcasting Corporation.

"We are doing this because we know that basketball is big in South Africa. This deal will expose our players to the high level of basketball," Mbalula said.

The deal would include the training of South African players and the exchange of players between the two countries.

"Basketball in this country is loved by a lot of people and has not been given the attention it deserves," he said.

South Africa had five players playing in the NBA, Mbalula said.

"A very few people know that we have players in that league who are highly paid and we hope we will have more very soon."

Mbalula said Angola and Egypt were leading in terms of the number of people who loved basketball. South Africa was number five, he said.

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