South African power forward/center Pieter Prinsloo has signed for Rwanda Energy Group (REG) for the Rwandan Basketball League (RBL) season, but expects to represent South African team Made By Ball (MBB) in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
REG failed to qualify for the 2025 BAL after losing to eventual champions Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) in the semi-finals. They subsequently hired Nigerian coach Ogoh Odaudu, who led Rivers Hoopers to third place in the 2024 BAL and won Coach of the Year.
Now, the 2022 and 2023 BAL quarter-finalists have added former Cape Town Tigers captain Prinsloo, who played college basketball in the USA at Marist Red Foxes, to their roster for the 2025 RBL season, which began on January 24.
Having been training with MBB, who recently appointed Sam Vincent as head coach, Prinsloo has linked up with his new team in Rwanda and made his debut in the 92-58 win over Espoir.
When asked if he would still represent MBB at the BAL despite signing for REG, Prinsloo told ESPN: "That's the plan at the moment. I'm going to play for REG [until MBB's BAL campaign starts], play with MBB for the BAL, and then [go] back to REG to finish the season in Rwanda.
"Obviously, things can change, but as of now, that's the whole scope of things."
MBB owner Cyril Shabalala confirmed that Prinsloo was in his plans, but also that his contract had yet to be finalised.
On how the move to REG happened, Prinsloo - who was most recently at Chile's Las Ánimas de Valdivia, said: "I was looking at some possible interest from some teams in Europe - Germany and in Spain - and then also potentially from Mexico.
"Then, [the] agent was like: 'Hey, the team in Rwanda - REG - wants you. They're interested.' We came to an agreement because of the way that everything works out with the BAL."
Speaking on his new signing, Odaudu said: "He brings size because that's what we have been missing and because he can stretch the floor, it makes him even more effective for what we have going here.
"He made a difference in the first game already and it can only get better."
Like Prinsloo, Odaudu is scheduled to leave during the BAL, where he is set to once again coach Rivers Hoopers.
The BAL will tip off in Rabat, Morocco, with the first conference hosted there from April 5-13. It will then move on to Dakar, Senegal (April 26 - May 4) and Kigali, Rwanda (May 17-25). The playoffs and finals will be in Pretoria, South Africa from June 6-14).
Meanwhile, the RBL season is scheduled to last until at least late July and could continue into early August depending on playoff results.
According to the current schedule, REG's final regular season game will be against APR on June 29, so regardless of how far MBB go at the BAL and REG in the RBL, Prinsloo is set to re-join his teammates in Rwanda once the BAL season is complete.