Samkelo Cele

Samkelo "Sam" Cele (born 28 December 1997) is a South African professional basketball player who plays for the Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Born in Durban, he played college basketball for three different universities. Cele began playing professionally in 2023 and was an All-BAL First Team selection in 2024, and is a two-time BAL All-Defensive Team selection, all while playing for the Tigers.

Early life
Born in Durban, Cele received a basketball scholarship for Durban High School, one of the best schools in the city. After graduating in 2016, he moved to the United States to play for Bull City Prep in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cele also attended a basketball camp in Serbia in 2015. Cele played with the KwaZulu Marlins of the South African top tier Basketball National League (BNL) in 2015, at age 17.

College career
Cele played for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College for two years, for Southern University for one year in 2020–21, and Marist College in 2021–22. With the Marist Red Foxes, Cele started in 27 games.

He then finished his career with the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in the NAIA, because he was ineligible to continue in the NCAA, and was named an All-American third-team selection in 2023. He averaged 20.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 52.8% from the field and 41.3% on three-pointers.

2022–23 season
In 2023, Cele signed his first professional contract with the South African team Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). On 6 May, 2023, on the final day of the Nile Conference, Cele scored 28 points in a win over City Oilers, that clinched the Tigers' playoff spot. He was named to the BAL All-Defensive Team for the 2023 BAL season. Cele averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game and shot 46.8 percent from the field in his four BAL games.

2023–24 season
In the 2023–24 season, Cele took a leap in his game and helped the Tigers to the fourth place in the 2024 BAL season. He averaged 20.2 points per game (second in the league) and 2.4 steals per game (third-most in the league). He was named to his first All-BAL First Team, becoming the first South African to be named to the team; Cele was also named to another BAL All-Defensive Team.

National team career
Cele made his debut for the South Africa national team in February 2024 during the pre-qualifiers for AfroBasket 2025.

BAL career statistics

 * style="text-align:left;"|2023
 * style="text-align:left;"|Cape Town
 * 6 || 3 || 30.6 || .478 || .235 || .524 || 5.3 || 2.3 || 2.0 || 0.2 || 13.5
 * style="text-align:left;"|2024
 * style="text-align:left;"|Cape Town
 * 7 || 7 || 33.8 || .389 || .268 || .760 || 4.6 || 2.7 || 2.4 || 0.2 || 21.0
 * style="text-align:left;"|Cape Town
 * 7 || 7 || 33.8 || .389 || .268 || .760 || 4.6 || 2.7 || 2.4 || 0.2 || 21.0