Nairobi City Thunder and Kenya Ports Authority will meet in the 2026 Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League final after both sides completed 3-0 semifinal sweeps. Thunder beat Stanbic Shields 88-65 in Game Three at Nyayo Gymnasium, while KPA defeated Equity Dumas 82-56 in Mombasa.
The gap in both series was decisive. Thunder outscored Stanbic by 64 points across three games, an average margin of more than 21 points per game, while KPA's aggregate margin over Dumas reached 72 points, or 24 per game. Across the six semifinal contests, none was decided by fewer than 15 points.
The final has been played twice before, with Thunder winning both series. In 2024, Thunder defeated KPA 2-1, sealing their first league title with an 86-46 victory in Nairobi. The following year, they swept KPA 3-0, winning the first two games in Mombasa 81-47 and 93-79 before an 80-43 close-out at Nyayo Gymnasium. Now the two sides meet again, with Thunder pursuing a third consecutive title.
Thunder went unbeaten through the 2026 regular season, winning all 22 games under head coach Brad Ibs, and became the first Kenyan team to reach the Basketball Africa League Elite 8 in Rwanda two years ago. KPA, the Dockers, have won a record nine league titles, most recently in 2022 and 2023, and have finished runners-up to Thunder in each of the past two finals.
The best-of-five series opens in Mombasa on Saturday, September 26 at 6:00 PM, with Game 2 also at 6:00 PM the next day. Game 3 is scheduled for Friday, October 2 at Nyayo Gymnasium in Nairobi at 8:00 PM, with Games 4 and 5, if necessary, to be confirmed.
