NBL sets sights on Asia

The NBL calendar continues to get bigger each year, with the Hungry Jack's 2026-27 season featuring pillars such as HoopsFest, the CODE Sports Blitz and a revamped Ignite Cup Finals weekend.

These all attract international audiences shown by the fans that travel each year to witness these in-person.

The League's appetite for international engagement was clear in 2025, hosting both the NBAxNBL Melbourne Series against the New Orleans Pelicans and the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament, which brought Panathinaikos B.C. and KK Partizan to Australia.

Now, CODE Sports has revealed the NBL has Asia in its sights.

"With our suite of events across the season between Blitz, Ignite Cup Final and HoopsFest, it gives us opportunity to take those products overseas," NBL Group CEO David Stevenson told CODE Sports.

"We've got a lot of work going on around our Asia strategy and we see Asia as our big growth opportunity from fans, broadcast, commercial and playing talent and we'd love to take games there."

The NBL and WNBL have a long-standing relationship with countries such as China and Japan.

This season, the WNBL will have four Chinese international stars playing in their competition, including Geelong's Han Xu and Zhang Wanglai, Southside Melbourne's Siyu Wang and Sydney's Shuyu Yang.

While the NBL has previously featured Japanese star Yudai Baba (Melbourne), and hosted pre-season fixtures against B.LEAGUE United, as the connection between the two countries continues to grow.

"We've signed an MOU with the Japanese B League and we've had a B League side play here to play pre-season games which has been successful," Stevenson said.

"Previously we've only had the Blitz as an event but now we've got a few and other concepts we are working on. The partnership with the WNBL on those events also helps us."

The first of those key events on the NBL calendar, the Blitz, runs from September 2-6 in Bendigo, with tickets still available here.

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