The NBA will bounce into Australia this October for an historic series of pre-season games against two domestic teams.
Confirmed today, NBA franchise New Orleans Pelicans will tackle NBL finalists Melbourne United on Friday, October 3rd, and semi-finalists South East Melbourne Phoenix, October 5th, 2025, at Rod Laver Arena.
Hoops fans will get a chance to see former No. 1 draft pick Zion Williamson and fellow NBA All-Star Dejounte Murray up close, competing against some of the NBL’s finest, including NBA champions Matthew Dellavedova and Jack White, both of whom currently suit up for United.
Additionally, the NBA, the NBL and the Pelicans will conduct NBA Cares community outreach initiatives and lifestyle events leading up to and during the week of the games, including a Fan Night on Saturday, October 4th.
The two basketball leagues also plan to expand their grassroots basketball development efforts in Asia-Pacific at the youth and elite levels in the coming years, reads a joint statement.
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“The significance of this announcement for basketball in Australia and the NBL can’t be overstated,” comments NBL Executive Director Larry Kestelman. “Hosting an NBA team in Australia has been a long-held dream for everyone at the NBL, and to see this initiative finally come to fruition after a 15-year journey shows that much can be accomplished when you ‘Dream Big’”.
Until now, the NBA has resisted efforts to send a team to the land Down Under, one of the Association’s most fanatical international markets; Australia is said to be the No. 2 market outside of the United States for subscriptions to the NBA’s League Pass app.
The two match-ups this October won’t count for the regular season, but it’s a start.
The NBA’s long-overdue crossing to Australia follows the announcement by the NFL last month of a multi-year arrangement to play regular season games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from next year, featuring the Los Angeles Rams.
Melbourne, a city that makes a strong claim to be the sporting capital of Australia, if not the world, has hosted the Olympic Games (in 1956), the Commonwealth Games (2006), is home to cricket’s Boxing Day Test, and is the birthplace of our national game, Aussie rules. More NBA No. 1 draft picks were born in Melbourne than any other city.
Major League Baseball already played ball in Australia, doing so for the first time in 2014 with the Dodgers and D-backs starting their regular season with two games in Sydney.
Although sports fans have been starved of Association games on Australian soil, NBA-quality squads have made the long haul on numerous occasions. The star-studded Team USA swept all before them en route to gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and the national team competed against the Australian Boomers for a two-match series in 2019 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium (with the home team winning the second contest).
A win for one or both of the home teams isn’t far fetched. In October 2022, the NBL’s Adelaide 36ers trounced the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in a pre-season bout in the United States, 134-124. Five years earlier, in 2017, Melbourne United almost pulled off an upset against the much-fancied Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 86-85 in an exhibition match, also in the US.
Tickets for the NBL x NBA games will be distributed through a registration process.
