Junior basketball development is where it all starts prior to achieving the Australian hoops dream. Playing in the NBL or even better for Australia starts at your local association.

When it comes to developing talent however some associations seem to do better than others. Over the years we see more and more rookies enter the league but time and time again we see the names of the same local basketball programs having produced these players.

Additionally a complete list of what association every player who has played for Australia or the NBL has never been compiled.

Together with Australia’s hoops tragic’s we’ve created a list (in progress) of each player who ever played in the NBL and the junior association which produced them.

7. Townsville – 25 NBL players

Having fielded an NBL team from 1993-2016 plenty of young talent made their way through the Townsville basketball program to represent their hometown Suns/Crocodiles.

With the program still developing talent through its state league team the Townsville Heat, who have won five state titles since 1986, NBL stars are still regularly being produced from the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

6. Melbourne – 26 NBL players

The Melbourne Basketball Association began in the 1920s with the birth of basketball in Victoria and went through an evolution process where the club changed from St Lukes to Church of England, to then become Church. It then became Melbourne Church and finally, in 1975 the club decided to change its name to Melbourne Tigers.

The Melbourne Tigers Junior Basketball Club was founded by Ken Watson who coached the national team at the 1956 and 1968 Olympic Games. Hall of Fame coach Lindsey Gaze took over from Watson in the 1960s and the team entered into the National Basketball League in 1984 with Gaze as coach and son Andrew headlining the team.

The program fed numerous players directly from their junior program to their NBL squad and competed in the NBL from 1984 to 2014 when they were purchased by Larry Kestleman and re-named Melbourne United.

5. Geelong – 27 NBL players

For many years players from the Geelong Amateur Basketball Association had played for clubs outside of Geelong in the premier Victorian competition, the VBA. In 1977 a group of Geelong men banded together and formed the Geelong Basketball Club to give local basketballers the opportunity of play at the highest level at the time for their home city.

In 1980 the club signed the leading scorer of the 1979 national league, Cal Bruton and finished runners-up in the Victoria Basketball Association (VBA) championships. This propelled the club to be accepted into the NBL for the 1982 season.

Originally known as the “Great Shape” Cats before being renamed the Supercats in 1988, Geelong competed at the national level for fifteen years.

4. Sturt – 33 NBL Players

Sturt Sabres basketball is one of the oldest and most successful hoops programs in Australia.

It began in 1960 when eleven players from the SA United Church Basketball Association entered a “United Church” team at Forestville Stadium. John and Malcolm Heard, members of that team were selected as Olympians for Rome that very same year and since then it’s been a regular pipeline of talent to the Australian Boomers program.

Five Sturt Sabres have gone on to play in the Olympics with Phil Smyth, Brett Maher and John Heard later achieving the feat.

3. Nunawading – 37 NBL Players

Nunawading Basketball was established in 1969 and was one of the NBL’s foundation clubs when it launched in 1979.

Nunawading played in the NBL as the Spectres from 1979–1986 before the NBL team changed its name to the Eastside Spectres to resonate more with the broader basketball community. It continued for five years before merging with the Southern Melbourne Saints in 1992 to become the South East Melbourne Magic.

Nunawading has continued to play in the Victorian state league since 1990, winning their first title in 1995 and their second in 2011.

2. Newcastle – 39 NBL Players

It shouldn’t surprise people that the program is credited with creating the NBL is one of the programs on this list.

In 1978, Newcastle basketball president John Raschke sat with 10 interested parties in an unused aircraft hangar at Sydney Airport to discuss the formation of a national competition that would help the development of the sport throughout Australia.

This resulted in the birth of the national league where the nine other clubs had to pay a fee of around AU$300 to Newcastle to participate in that first season, making the city of Newcastle perhaps the birthplace of Australian basketball as we know it.

The Newcastle Falcons took the court in 1979 with a team of local Newcastle players and relied on its local talent while it participated in the league until 1999.

1. Illawarra – 56 NBL Players

Incredibly Illawarra basketball has been developing Australian basketball talent since 1954.

Upon the creation of Australia’s national league in 1979, the program entered the NBL as the Illawarra Hawks and has remained a part of the competition ever since, being the only foundation club still standing.

The Illawarra Hawks have continually relied on the local talent to drive the team’s success, something that culminated in 2001 when the team their maiden championship and the first NBL championship to be won by a team from  New South Wales.

Other top-ranked basketball associations…

Junior Association Records

Search for an association or player using the search function below or visit our Australian Basketball Player Database for information on every player to play in the NBL.