View source for Basketball in Australia

{{Short description|Overview of basketball in Australia}}
{{Distinguish|Basketball Australia}}

{{Sport overview
| country       = Australia
| sport         = basketball
| nationalteam  = [[Australia national basketball team (disambiguation)|Basketball]]
| image         = Perth Wildcats 2017 champions.jpg
| imagesize     = 250px
| caption       = Ten-time [[National Basketball League (Australia)|NBL]] champions, the [[Perth Wildcats]]
| union         = [[Basketball Australia]]
| nickname      = Boomers (Men)<br />Opals (Women)
| first         = 23 February 1897, [[Adelaide]], [[South Australia]]
| registered    = 1,056,012 (adult)<br />325,261 (children)<ref name="participation 2023/24" />
| clubs         = 93 (Men)<br />90 (Women)<br />183 (Total)
| match         = 17,514 (2019) NBL: [[Sydney Kings]] v. [[Illawarra Hawks]] ([[Sydney Super Dome|Qudos Bank Arena]])
| league        = 896,408 - [[2019–20 NBL season]]
| national_list = {{Collapsible list|
* [[Basketball at the Summer Olympics|Summer Olympics]]
* [[FIBA Oceania Championship]]
* [[FIBA Oceania Championship for Women]]
* [[FIBA Basketball World Cup]]
* [[FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup]]
 }}
| club_list     = {{Collapsible list|
* Professional
** [[National Basketball League (Australia)|National Basketball League]]
** [[Women's National Basketball League]]
* Semi-professional
** [[Big V]]
** [[NBL1 Central]]
** [[NBL1 North]]
** [[NBL1 South]]
** [[NBL1 West]]
** [[NBL1 East]]
 }}
}}

In [[Australia]], [[Basketball]] is a popular participation and spectator sport played both indoors and outdoors. According to Ausplay, in 2024 1,056,012 Australian adults play basketball making it the second highest team participation sport in the country.<ref name="participation 2023/24">{{Cite web | url=https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/ausplay/results#data_tables_br_july_2023_june_2024 | title=AusPlay results | first=Australian Sports Commission; jurisdiction=Commonwealth of Australia; corporateName=Australian Sports | last=Commission | website=Sport Australia | access-date=2024-11-05}}</ref>  Around 4.6% of Australian adults, and 6.7% of Australian children play basketball.<ref name="participation 2023/24" /> Over a quarter of Australian basketballers are female.<ref name="participation 2023/24" />

Basketball in Australia experienced a golden age in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, during which the [[National Basketball League (Australia)|National Basketball League]] saw its halcyon days. However, its popularity, media attention, attendance, and corporate support deteriorated during the 2000s. From the mid-2010s, the sport saw renewed interest following a record number of Australians playing in the [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA) in the United States.<ref name="turner" />

==History==
The first press reference to a game of basketball in Australia is from ''[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Adelaide Advertiser]]''. The paper reported on Wednesday 17 February 1897 that the following Tuesday at the opening of [[Our Boys Institute]], said to be the largest gymnasium in the colonies, OBI would play YMCA in the first exhibition of basketball in South Australia. There is no evidence of any game being played earlier elsewhere, thus the first game of basketball was played in Australia on Tuesday 23 February 1897.  The game occurred six years after the invention of the sport on 21 December 1891 by Canadian [[James Naismith]], a physical education professor and instructor at the [[Springfield College (Massachusetts)|International Young Men's Christian Association Training School]] (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. OBI and the YMCA continued to be at the forefront of the development of Adelaide basketball. More than 120 years later, basketball is one of the most popular participation sports in the country.

==National League==
The National Basketball League ([[National Basketball League (Australia)|NBL]]), which began in 1979, is the top-level men's basketball competition in Australia. The sport experienced rapid growth in the 1980s with the influx of American players. National competition became popular in the major cities. By the late 1990s, basketball in Australia went into sharp decline. According to [[Adelaide 36ers]] championship coach Phil Smyth, Australian basketball administrators rested on their laurels during the 1990s. "They let the brand get damaged," Smyth said. "It's that old saying 'if you keep doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result, you're a fool — and basketball was foolish."<ref name=turner>{{cite web|last=Turner|first=Matt|url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/aussies-shine-in-the-nba-so-why-is-the-nbl-struggling/news-story/fe6e88497f434d88a6cef96c6cd21d9f|title=Aussies shine in the NBA, so why is the NBL struggling?| work=AdelaideNow.com.au|date=7 June 2015|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> During the 2000s, interest in the NBL dwindled, with many teams folding, audience attendance fluctuating, and the league's TV presence inconsistent.<ref name="turner" />

In 2015, a record number of Australians playing in the NBA led to a renewed popularity in the sport and showed Australians still loved basketball but were unsure about the national version.<ref name="turner" /> However, by the late 2010s and early 2020s, renewed interest in the league saw all-time attendance records be broken.<ref>{{cite web|title=Record Crowds Attend NBL Opening Round|url=https://nbl.com.au/news/record-crowds-attend-nbl-opening-round|website=NBL.com.au|access-date=2023-09-21|archive-date=2023-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405134621/https://nbl.com.au/news/record-crowds-attend-nbl-opening-round|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Championship Series Crowd Records Smashed|url=https://nbl.com.au/news/championship-series-crowd-records-smashed|website=NBL.com.au |language=en}}</ref>

==National teams==
The [[Australia men's national basketball team|Boomers]] are the men's basketball team which represents Australia in international competitions. As of 2022, the Boomers have won 19 [[FIBA Oceania Championship]]s (no longer contested), one [[FIBA Asia Cup]], one [[Basketball at the Commonwealth Games|Commonwealth Games]] Gold Medal in [[Basketball at the 2006 Commonwealth Games|2006]] and one Bronze Medal at the [[Basketball at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]] in [[2020 Summer Olympics|Tokyo 2020 Olympics]]. Until winning the Bronze in Tokyo, their best finish being fourth place at the Olympics in [[Basketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics|1988]], [[Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics|1996]], [[Basketball at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|2000]] and [[Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|2016]], and fourth at the [[2019 FIBA World Championship|2019]] World Cup.

The women's national team is the [[Australia women's national basketball team|Opals]]. They have won Olympic silver in [[Basketball at the 2000 Summer Olympics|2000]], [[Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament|2004]] and [[Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament|2008]], Olympic bronze in [[Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympics|1996]] and [[Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament|2012]], as well as gold at the [[2006 FIBA World Championship for Women|2006 FIBA World Championship]] and bronze at the [[1998 FIBA World Championship for Women|1998]], [[2002 FIBA World Championship for Women|2002]] and [[2014 FIBA World Championship for Women|2014]] World Cups.

== League system ==
{{Infobox league system
| title = Australian basketball league system
| image =
| image_size = 220px
| caption =
| country = Australia
| sport = Basketball
| pr = No
| federation = [[Basketball Australia]]
| confederation = [[FIBA Oceania]]
| top = {{Unbulleted list|
* [[National Basketball League (Australia)|National Basketball League]]
* [[Women's National Basketball League]]
}}
| second = {{Unbulleted list|
* [[Big V]]
* [[NBL1 Central]]
* [[NBL1 East]]
* [[NBL1 North]]
* [[NBL1 South]]
* [[NBL1 West]]
}}
| cup =
}}

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
;Men
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center; font-size:11px; width:99%;"
|-
!Level
!colspan=6|Leagues
|-
|'''1'''
|colspan=6|'''[[National Basketball League (Australia)|National Basketball League]]'''<br />''[[National Basketball League (Australia)#Current clubs|10 teams]] ([[New Zealand Breakers|1 from New Zealand]])''
|-
|rowspan=2|'''2'''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[Big V]]'''<br />''8 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 Central]]'''<br />''10 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 East]]'''<br />''16 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 North]]'''<br />''16 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 South]]'''<br />''19 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 West]]'''<br />''14 teams''
|}
{{col-2}}
;Women
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center; font-size:11px; width:99%;"
|-
!Level
!colspan=6|Leagues
|-
|'''1'''
|colspan=6|'''[[Women's National Basketball League]]'''<br />''[[Women's National Basketball League#Current clubs|8 teams]]''
|-
|rowspan=2|'''2'''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[Big V]]'''<br />''8 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 Central]]'''<br />''10 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 East]]'''<br />''16 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 North]]'''<br />''16 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 South]]'''<br />''19 teams''
| style="width:16%;" rowspan="2"|'''[[NBL1 West]]'''<br />''13 teams''
|}
{{col-end}}

== Australians in the NBA ==
The [[National Basketball Association]] (NBA) in the [[United States]] has a number of Australian players. The NBA also has a large following in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunting |first=Boss |date=2022-10-23 |title=The Rise & Rise Of The NBA In Australia |url=https://www.bosshunting.com.au/sport/the-rise-rise-of-the-nba-in-australia/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |website=Boss Hunting |language=en-US}}</ref>

The majority of players on the roster for the [[Australia men's national basketball team]] (nicknamed the "Boomers") currently play in the NBA.

=== Current players ===
{{Further|List of NBA players born outside the United States|List of Australian WNBA players}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Player
! Club
|-
| {{sortname|Dyson|Daniels}}
| [[Atlanta Hawks]]
|-
|[[Alex Ducas]]
|[[Oklahoma City Thunder]]
|-
| {{sortname|Dante|Exum}}
| [[Dallas Mavericks]]
|-
| {{sortname|Johnny|Furphy}}
| [[Indiana Pacers]]
|-
| {{sortname|Josh|Giddey}}
| [[Chicago Bulls]]
|-
| {{sortname|Josh|Green|link=Josh Green (basketball)}}
| [[Charlotte Hornets]]
|-
| {{sortname|Joe|Ingles}}
| [[Minnesota Timberwolves]]
|-
| {{sortname|Kyrie|Irving}}
| [[Dallas Mavericks]]
|-
| {{sortname|Jock|Landale}}
| [[Houston Rockets]]
|-
|[[Jack McVeigh]]
|[[Houston Rockets]]
|-
| {{sortname|Patty|Mills}}
| [[Utah Jazz]]
|-
| {{sortname|Duop|Reath}}
| [[Portland Trail Blazers]]
|-
| {{sortname|Ben|Simmons}}
| [[Brooklyn Nets]]
|-
| {{sortname|Matisse|Thybulle}}
| [[Portland Trail Blazers]]
|-
|[[Luke Travers]]
|[[Cleveland Cavaliers]]
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Australia|Basketball}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://australia.basketball/ Basketball Australia official website]
* [https://nbl.com.au/ NBL official website]
* [https://wnbl.basketball/ WNBL official website]

{{Basketball in Australia}}
{{Oceania topic|Basketball in}}
{{Australian sport}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basketball In Australia}}

[[Category:Basketball in Australia| ]]