National Basketball League (Australia)


The National Basketball League is a men's professional basketball league in Australasia, currently composed of ten teams: nine in Australia and one in New Zealand. It is the premier professional men's basketball league in Australia and New Zealand. The league was played in the Australian winter until 1998 when it switched to summer seasons beginning with the 1998–99 season. The NBL's regular season runs from September to February, with each team playing 33 games. The league's finals extends into March to April, culminating with the Championship grand final series.

History

The NBL was established as the National Invitation Basketball League in 1978 and commenced its first season in 1979. It was renamed as the National Basketball League in 1980.
Before the establishment of the NBL, there were two national basketball competitions: the National Titles and the Australian Club Championships.
In August 1979, the inaugural season of the NBL commenced, playing in the winter season which it did so until the completion of the 1998 season, the league's twentieth season. The 1998–99 season, which began only months later, was the first to be played during the summer season. The shift, which is currently used by the league, was an attempt to avoid competing directly against Australia's various winter season football codes. Officially the NBL is Australia's third oldest continuing national sporting competition after the domestic cricket competition and Australian Football League.
File:South East Melbourne Phoenix vs. Adelaide 36ers.jpg|thumb|right|250px|S.E. Melbourne Phoenix and Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena
The NBL experienced its "golden age" in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but its popularity, media attention, attendance and corporate support deteriorated and plateaued in the decade afterward with the growth of the country's four football codes.
A second Melbourne club, the South Dragons, entered the league in the 2006–07 season, but was short lived, soon folding 3 years later after the 2008–09 season in which they were NBL champions. In the 2006–07 season, the NBL became the first Australasian sporting league to field a team from Asia with the Singapore Slingers playing. The Gold Coast Blaze also joined the competition in the 2007–08 season. In 2007, Australian NBA player Andrew Bogut suggested the NBL try to adopt a model similar to the Australian Football League whereby there are the same 10 or 15 teams over a 10-year period.
A turbulent period during 2008 and 2009 saw the league lose teams from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Singapore.
The 2009–10 season earmarked as the season in which the NBL would begin its revamping, much like the old National Soccer League which became the eight team A-League. The NBL returned to free-to-air television in Australia for the first time in three years with One broadcasting 2–3 games a week.
The 2010–11 season saw the return of the Sydney Kings after the club was purchased for 20,000 on 31 July 2008.
In 2013, the NBL had a de-merger from Basketball Australia.
Crowds improved for the 2013–14 NBL season, recording the highest cumulative crowd attendance figures for the past five years.
After numerous teams folding and a plummeting public profile property developer Larry Kestelman purchased a 51% portion of the league. Since then game attendance, TV viewership, website visitors and app downloads have been consistently on the increase.
In April 2016, the Townsville Crocodiles folded as they had become too financially unsustainable to continue.
Larry Kestelman has stated on the Aussie Hoopla podcast that no NBL club will ever fold again as long as he is in control of the league.
Allowing for clubs to recruit the best Australian players not in the NBA became easier with the marquee rule which saw the return from Europe and the US of players such as Brad Newley, David Andersen and Andrew Bogut. In addition the Special Restricted Player rule, introduced for the 2016–17 season, allows for clubs to recruit players born in countries such as China, Philippines, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan who would not count as imports under NBL rules.
From 2016 to 2018, there was a renewed interest in the sport, with it being described as being the National Basketball League's greatest ever period. 2016–17 set a new attendance record for the league, with the figure being matched the following year, as well as the Grand Final series for the 2017–18 season.
In 2018, the S.E. Melbourne Phoenix were announced as the latest club to join the league, and started competing in the 2019–20 season; a season which was widely regarded as a major season for the league. After an active off-season, including the signings of LaMelo Ball and R. J. Hampton, two highly rated NBA 2020 draft picks, the league started by continuing to topple attendance records from the first round. The season's opening night had 10,300 fans in attendance to watch Melbourne United and the S.E. Melbourne Phoenix compete in the first "Throwdown", with a further 20,550 fans attending games across the first round. After signing a broadcasting deal with Facebook Watch, over one million American fans watched Ball's first game in the NBL against the Brisbane Bullets.
Following two condensed seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022–23 NBL season and the 2023 finals series saw a number of all-time attendance records being set for the league. As well, on 16 November 2022, Isaac Humphries came out as gay, which meant Humphries was the first Australian male basketball player and the first player in the NBL to be openly gay, and the only active openly gay male professional basketball player in a top-tier league anywhere in the world at the time.
In the 2023–24 season, one million fans attended NBL games for the first time since 1996.
On 11 March 2025, the National Basketball Association, the National Basketball League and the Victoria State Government announced that the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA would play two pre-season exhibition basketball games at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, as part of the NBA x NBL: Melbourne Series. The Pelicans will play Melbourne United 3 October 2025, and the South East Melbourne Phoenix on 5 October 2025.
On 20 August 2025, the NBL and ESPN announced they had extended their broadcast and streaming media deal. 2025-26 games will be live on Disney+ via the ESPN tile as well as the existing coverage through Foxtel, Kayo Sports, Fetch TV, and Sky New Zealand.

Competition format

Game length

From the 1979 season until the 1983 season, the NBL played 40 minute games with two 20-minute halves and no three-point line. From the 1984 season until the 2008–09 season, the NBL played 48 minute games over four 12-minute quarters. Since the 2009–10 season, the NBL's format is 40 minute games with four 10-minute quarters, known as the "modern" 40-minute era.

Regular season

Since the 2009–10 season, each team has played 28 games during the regular season, 14 home and 14 away. The regular season starts in early October and ends in mid February.
In the 2020–21 season, each team played an extra 8 games due to the newly formatted NBL Cup tournament. The following season the NBL returned to their normal format of 28 games with no midseason tournament.

Finals

The top four teams at the end of the regular season advances to the Finals. The team finishing in the first and second position at the completion of the regular season receives home advantages in their best-of-three first round matchup against the team finishing in third and fourth position. The winner of each of the three matches advances to the Grand Final. The winner of Series 1 plays the winner of Series 2 in the best-of-five Grand Final series, with home advantage being awarded to the highest remaining seed. The winner of this series is crowned as NBL champion.
In the 2022–23 season, the NBL introduced play-in games. The top two seeds in the regular season will automatically qualify to the semi-finals. Teams ranked three to six will compete in the play-in tournament. The third seed will play the fourth seed for third spot and the loser will play the winner of fifth or sixth for the fourth seed.

NBL Ignite Cup

On 18 June 2025, the NBL established the first NBL Ignite Cup. It will begin each season in Round 4 starting with the 2025–26 NBL season, with games played every Wednesday evening. Teams will receive one point for every quarter they win or half a point each if tied, and three points for winning the game. Each team will play two home games and two road games. The two highest-ranked teams based on both points will advance to the Grand Final. The winner of the Grand Final will receive prize money. The 20 games will count toward a team's record, while the Grand Final would not count as a regular season game. It is similar to the 2021 NBL Cup. Teams will be awarded one point for each quarter they win and three points for each game they win.

NBL Cup

In the 2020–21 season, the NBL introduced the NBL Cup which is a 36-game mid-season competition. Each game would contribute to each team's regular season record. In the 2021–22 season, the NBL returned to their normal format of 28 games. In May 2023, the league raised the potential for a return of a cup tournament with a Magic Round-style basketball event. A mid-season tournament was raised again by the league in January 2025 following the success of the NBA Cup.

Current clubs

The NBL was founded in 1979 with ten clubs. Due to club expansions, reductions, and relocations, many of the clubs either changed or ceased to exist. There are currently ten clubs; nine clubs in Australia and one club in New Zealand. The clubs are located in Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong. The Brisbane Bullets and the Illawarra Hawks are the oldest clubs in the league, with both clubs being established in 1979. The Hawks are the only club which has participated in every NBL season since the inaugural season in 1979.
ClubCityState/RegionCountryArenaCapacityHead coachTitleFounded
Adelaide 36ersAdelaideSouth Australia