For many, the 2026 Women’s NBL is a four horse race between the JT Lady Jaguars, UCU Lady Canons, JKL Lady Dolphins and the KCCA Leopards. However, is it really a four horse race? Are the KCCA Leopards contenders?

In round one, the JT Lady jaguars and the UCU Lady Canons were tied with the best record, 10-1. The KCCA Leopards came closely in third place with a 9-2 record while the JKL Lady Dolphins had an 8-3 record.

For JKL, they have a number of problems mainly centred on player availability and the quality of players. At the moment, defending the championship is more of a dream than reality. The JT Lady Jaguars and the UCU Lady Canons have looked solid and still tipped to make it to the finals.

This brings in a question, how far are the KCCA Leopards from the 2 top sides?

When KCCA faced the Lady Jaguars and the Lady Canons in the first round, they scored 28 and 34 points respectively. That was very underwhelming and a wakeup call for them because if they are to win, they would most likely have to face both sides.

In the second round, the Leopards faced a weakened Lady Jaguars team but still lost 61-47. The jaguars did not have services of Brenda Kayaga, Mercy Batamuliza and Rhoda Nagitta but still won comfortably. This makes us ask, are the Leopards equipped to compete for the championship?

JT limited KCCA’s most lethal player, Tracy Namugosa, to just 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting from the field. Surprisingly, despite scoring just 10 points, Tracy Namugosa was the leading scorer for the Leopards. When the 2 teams faced off in round one, she was limited to just 5 points with 2 of 9 shooting from the field.

This is a clear indication that Lady Jaguars have a solution for Tracy and it seems like the Leopards have no plan B when she is taken out. This was also the case in the game against the UCU Lady Canons which they lost in round one.

In the midseason transfer window, you would have expected the Leopards to be the first team to be in the market but up to now, no player has joined. Angella Zainah Lokwameri is the only confirmed new signing but she is yet to join the squad.

The other player that the Leopards will be hoping to return is Becky Longom who hasn’t featured this entire season due to injury. If she returns, she will boost the squad but there will be a question of match fitness as she hasn’t played much since 2025.

If the Leopards add just Zainah, will they have solved the problems that they had in round one? I don’t think that is the case and they need to do more. However, there is also a question, who is out there that can instantly boost the team?

The answer is, in Uganda, it is very difficult to find a person. However, if you are intentional on competing for a championship, you have to break the bank and go look for a person outside of the country. Are the Leopards willing/ready to do that? We do not know.

If they are serious about challenging for the title, they need to get in a person or two as soon as possible. If they don’t, they might just be participating. For the Leopards, you would think that every season is a championship or burst. However, this year, they were not set up to win when you compare to the JT Lady jaguars and the UCU Lady Canons unless some things change.

In the last 3 seasons, KCCA has not made it past the quarterfinals. If they are to win the championship, that will be the first hurdle that they have to jump over.

The KCCA Leopards will face Nabisunsa next on Saturday 16th May.