South Sudanese-Australian forward Madut Akec has joined APR Basketball Club ahead of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2026 season. Akec becomes the second South Sudanese player to sign for the club during this transfer window, following his compatriot Mangok Mathiang, who joined earlier this month. The army side has also strengthened its roster with American shooting guard Leonard Craig Randall, who previously played in the NBA G League. The 27-year-old forward most recently featured for the Waverley Falcons in Australia’s NBL1 South. Before turning professional, he played college basketball in the United States with the South Florida Bulls and the Detroit Mercy Titans. Akec made his professional debut in 2022 with the Guelph Nighthawks in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. During the 2022–23 season, he signed for ETHA Engomis in Cyprus before returning to Australia to join the Knox Raiders for the 2023 NBL1 South season. In January 2024, Akec briefly played for Çair 2030 in North Macedonia before moving to Mayrouba Club in Lebanon in March the same year. He later joined Senegalese side AS Douanes, where he featured in the 2024 BAL season. APR have been drawn into the Kalahari Conference for the BAL 2026 regular season, where they will face Al Ahly Ly (Libya), Johannesburg Giants (South Africa), Dar City (Tanzania), Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya) and defending champions Petro de Luanda (Angola). The conference will take place from March 27 to April 5 in Pretoria, South Africa. APR will represent Rwanda in the BAL for the third consecutive season. The club made its debut in 2024 after qualifying as champions of the national league. In their first appearance, APR finished fourth in the Sahara Conference, becoming the first Rwandan team in BAL history to miss the playoffs. However, the Lions bounced back in the 2025 edition, finishing third overall — the best result ever by a Rwandan club in the competition, surpassing Patriots BBC’s fourth-place finish in 2021. APR also set a BAL record for the most points scored in a single game, defeating Al Ittihad Alexandria 123–90 in the third-place match. Center Aliou Diarra was later named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. In July 2025, APR secured their 16th national championship, earning qualification for BAL 2026.
