How will KIU Titans deal with the foreign players’ cap?

Saidi Amisi is one of the five foreign players at KIU Titans /KIU image

BASKETBALL How will KIU Titans deal with the foreign players’ cap?

Ndyamuhaki J Emanzi 13:10 - 22.06.2023

Amisi, Isaiah Ater Mabeny, Joel Lukoji, Okoth and Balungu are the five foreign players on the Titans roster.

When the Namuwongo Blazers needed to call on Kennedy Wachira for a shot off the bench in last season’s National Basketball League Playoffs, he was somewhere in the stands and unable to offer solutions.

The former Kenyan League MVP was sacrificed because the Blazers had more foreigners than they are allowed to use on a given Game Day.

FUBA rules limit the use of foreign players to four on a particular Game Day, and the Blazers needed Saidi Amisi, David Deng, Ariel Okall and Chris Omanye.

That left Wachira and Chuol Nyuot as spectators throughout the seven-game Finals Series that ended with City Oilers lifting their eighth-straight championship.

If that scenario was supposed to send a warning to the rest of the teams regarding recruiting foreign players, KIU Titans are not one of those.

Their signing of Congolese guard Denis Balungu and Kenya Morans forward Fidel Okoth brought the number of foreigners on their roster to five, meaning that one of those will have to sit out on any given Game Day.

But how will head coach Julius Lutwama treat the situation, especially when the stakes are high in the playoffs?

“We will treat each game at a time. From our point of view, it’s a wise decision,” the tactician told Pulse Sports in an interview.

“We struggled with injuries throughout the first round, only that this information never comes out,” he added.

Amisi, Isaiah Ater Mabeny, Joel Lukoji, Okoth and Balungu are the five foreign players on the Titans roster.

Amisi, Ater, Lukoji, Joseph Chuma and Collins Kasujja are said to be playing through pain. Balungu joined that class after limping off in Wednesday night’s 76-64 win over JKL Dolphins.

“We understand the rules and will play by them, but we needed solutions.”

Wednesday night’s win was KIU’s 10th of the season as the team looks to finish the second round on a high and fight for a place in the finals.

With Okoth still part of the Kenyan team preparing for the FIBA Afro-CAN Finals, the Titans can use all the available for foreigners, at least for now.

However, the Kenyan’s arrival will undoubtedly relegate one of the four to the stands, especially in big games.