| Cape Town Tigers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 2023–24 Cape Town Tigers season | |||
 | |||
| League | BNL BAL South African National Championship | ||
| Founded | 2019 | ||
| History | Cape Town Tigers 2019–present | ||
| Location | Gugulethu,Cape Town, South Africa | ||
| Team colors | Black, White, Gold | ||
| Head coach | Florsheim Ngwenya | ||
| Ownership | Severus LLC | ||
| Championships | 3 (2021, 2022,2023 BNL) | ||
| Website | www | ||
TheCape Town Tigers are a South African professionalbasketball team founded inCape Town.[1] The Tigers have played in theBasketball National League (BNL) and played in three seasons of theBasketball Africa League (BAL) between 2022 and 2024.
Established in 2019, the Tigers are based inGugulethu, and have won the South African national championship three times, and qualified for the BAL through theRoad to BAL three times.
The Cape Town Tigers (Pty) Ltd. was founded in 2019 by U.S.-based holding company Severus LLC.[2][3][4]
The Tigers' first roster featured American import players Davon Dillard, Shaq McFarlan and Nigerian import Austin Ajukwa. Two formerNBA playersBilly Preston andBen Uzoh joined the second roster in 2021 and helped winning the firstnational championship. Several players for theSouth African national team were also on the team, such asPieter Prinsloo,Christopher Gabriel,Thabo Sithole andLehlogonolo Tholo.
In September 2021, the Tigers won their firstnational championship. The team beatJozi Nuggets after overtime in the final, behind Ben Uzoh who scored 22 points in the championship game.[5] Later in the year, the team competed in thequalification games of the BAL for the first time. The team finished third without playing its last game which was forfeited by opponentNew Star after players tested positive forCOVID-19.[6]
On August 22, 2022, the Tigers successfully defended their national title.[7] Three months later, on November 26, the Tigers clinched their second consecutive BAL spot after beatingCity Oilers in theRoad to BAL semi-finals.[8]
The Cape Town Tigers were quarter-finalists in the BAL once again in 2023, as they lost toStade Malien in the playoffs.[9]
Since June 2023, the Cape Town Tigers have joined theBasketball National League (BNL), the most notable private men's league in the country. They won the2023 championship, following a 5–0 record in the group phase and wide-margin wins in both the semi-finals and finals.[10]
The Tigers had their most successful BAL season to date in the2024 season, where they finished in fourth place.[11] They were able to eliminate top-seededFUS Rabat in thequarterfinals after overtime,[12] but lost to the eventual championsPetro de Luanda in thesemifinals.[13] The Tigers' star playerSamkelo Cele was named to theAll-BAL Team, and was later invited to play in theNBA Summer League.[14]
In June 2024, the Tigers withdrew from the2024 BNL season as they faced "budgetary constraints".[15] In August, the club was probed byFIBA for alleged player payment discrepancy.[16] In August, founder and CEO Raphael Edwards stepped down.[17]
| Key |
|---|
| Playoffs berth |
| Season | League | Regular season | Post-season | Head coach | Captain | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win % | |||||
| Cape Town Tigers | ||||||||||
| 2022 | BAL | Nile | 3rd | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost quarterfinals (Monastir) 67–106 | Relton Booysen | Pieter Prinsloo |
| 2023 | BAL | Nile | 4th | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost quarterfinals (Stade Malien) 69–78 | Rasheed Hazzard | |
| 2024 | BAL | Kalahari | 3rd | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost seeding game (Al Ahly Ly) 67–87 Won quarterfinal (FUS Rabat) 91–88OT Lost semifinal (Petro de Luanda) 86–96OT Lost third place game (Rivers Hoopers) 57–80 | Florsheim Ngwenya | Lebesa Selepe |
| Season record | 14 | 5 | 9 | .357 | ||||||
| Playoffs record | 6 | 1 | 5 | .167 | ||||||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Cape Town Tigers roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Updated: 16 December 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| Criteria |
|---|
To appear in this section a player must have either:
|
Thus far, the Tigers have had three head coaches:
Raphael Edwards: (2021)
Relton Booysen: (2021–2022)Florsheim Ngwenya: (2022)[18]Rasheed Hazzard: (2023BAL)Florsheim Ngwenya: (2023-present)BAL denotes the coach only coached the Tigers duringBasketball Africa League games.
| Seasons | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying rounds | |||||
| Playoffs | |||||
| Teams |
| ||||
| Arenas | |||||
| Competition stages | |||||
| Awards | |||||
| Records and statistics | |||||
| Associated | |||||
