Australia’s National Basketball League is aiming to grow to the next level domestically and internationally by exploring new strategies to help elevate growth in a crowded basketball space.
As the NBL constantly tries to reinvent itself to attract more talent and generate interest, it has prioritized investing in more partnerships in North America and Asia.
NBL Director Nikola Milivojevic said the league’s player development program Next Stars has “really put us on the map even more” and “created a point of interest” for the league with execs and former players joining from the NBA.
In an effort to stand out from other leagues such as Overtime Elite and the G League that are vying for young potential NBA talent, the NBL has strengthened its connections with North American resources to enhance its Next Stars program, which has shown to be a successful alternate pathway to becoming a professional athlete. The program has produced six first round picks across the past five NBA drafts, including Hornets G LaMelo Ball, Bulls G Josh Giddey, and this past draft’s No. 2 overall pick, Wizards F/C Alex Sarr.
The league’s more recent moves have seen former NBAer Carmelo Anthony become global ambassador of the Next Star program and longtime TNT Sports personality Kenny Smith becoming its head of player initiatives in North America.
Milivojevic said their impact has been “fantastic” for the program’s recruiting efforts in the U.S. and its brand visibility because they have “trust with the families, the young players there and the entire ecosystem.”
“When you’re sitting there, you have to convince the family that the best place for a young man is on the other side of the globe or the other end of the world,” he said. The more trust factors you have that are associated with your program and the ecosystem that you’re creating, the better it is.”
The league is also looking at the different ways to generate brand awareness and continue building its platform through several different opportunities and projects in Asia, which Milivojevic calls a “great opportunity” for the league.
“We would love to one day actually have one or two teams from Asia participate in NBL and actually be a team,” he said.
Milivojevic said if they can get to the point of having a team in Asia and continue building on their strong relationship with NBA, they can “continue our storytelling journey of everything that’s happening on this side of the world.” He also said the NBA becoming more accessible through digital platforms “seemingly has really driven incredible fandom” to the NBL over the past 10 years.
He mentioned that the league is exploring a couple games with 2024 EuroLeague champion club Panathinaikos as well to bring more eyes to the league.
Growth opportunities on the women’s basketball side has NBL owner Larry Kestelman’s consortium taking over operations of the WNBL beginning in April, giving the women’s league a bigger platform -- as Kestelman did for the NBL when he took over.
“We’re extremely excited about it because we do believe that women’s basketball deserves a much bigger platform and an improved ecosystem,” said Milivojevic.
When asked about a recent report suggesting the NBL is pursuing a series against an NBA team to be played in Melbourne, Australia, Milivojevic said “nothing is final.”
“Obviously it’s a partnership that we value immensely,” he said. “We have had constant talks about different opportunities for the NBL and NBA to really collaborate together even further.”
