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- Melbourne will reportedly host the first-ever NBA game in Australia in October 2025.
- Expected to be an NBA preseason game against an NBL team or a select squad.
- NBA views the NBL as a key pathway to expanding into the Asian market.
- Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns will play preseason games in Macao around the same time.
With the recent announcement that Melbourne will officially host a regular season NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and an unnamed opponent, new reports from ESPN claim that the NBA, NBL, and Victorian Government are closing in on a deal that would bring the first-ever NBA game to Australia in October 2025.
It’s unclear what this exhibition would look like, but the timing suggests that it’s likely to be an NBA preseason game between an NBA team and one of Melbourne’s two NBL teams, the South East Melbourne Phoenix or Melbourne United. The source also states that it could be a “NBL select team” of the top players. However, history and timing tell us that it’s more likely that the event will be an NBA preseason game, similar to those that have already been played between NBL and NBA teams in five of the last seven years.
During the 2024 NBA Preseason, the Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards all hosted NBL teams (Cairns Taipans and the New Zealand Breakers).
The ESPN report says the NBA’s interest in a relationship with the NBL is largely because it views the NBL as a pathway to the Asian market. This is a market that the NBA continues to explore, and the NBA China Games, hosted in Macao, will occur around the same time as this proposed exhibition in Melbourne.
The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play two preseason games on Friday, October 10th and Sunday, October. 12th at The Venetian Arena in Macao.
If and when confirmed by the league, the NBA exhibition in Australia would mark the sixth time in eight years that NBL teams will participate in the NBA preseason.
“Basketball and the NBA’s popularity in Australia is at an all-time high,” NBA Asia head of strategy, Rajah Chaudhry, said in a statement obtained by ESPN. “We are committed to engaging the passionate NBA fans across the country, including in collaboration with the NBL.”
There are currently 15 Australian players in the NBA, including Josh Giddey who is looking for a large USD$30 million per year contract from his Chicago Bulls this offseason, Dyson Daniels who is the current NBA steals leader with 3.0 steals per game, and Patty Mills who has just joined the Los Angeles Clippers as they look to make a deep NBA Playoff run for another year.
