Behind Australia's rise to become a hoops superpower

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Australian basketball is in the midst of a purple patch, which arguably can only be rivalled by the success of the ever-dominant USA.

A trophy cabinet featuring 16 gold medals for national teams in the past two years, a complete whitewash of Asian competition, as well as a bunch of green and gold talents impacting on the biggest stages around the world has established Australia as one of the world superpowers in basketball.

On the back of the country's most recent gold medal with the Aussie Gems winning the FIBA Under-18 Women's Asia Cup in Malaysia, Basketball Australia's general manager of the Centre of Excellence and performance pathways, Peter Lonergan, said the program was seeing the results of the foundation set by legends and pioneers of the sport decades ago.

"The great strength of Australian basketball is the great consistency of approach over a long period of time," Lonergan told basketball.com.au.

"From pioneers such as Bob Staunton, Ken Watson and Betty Watson, Lindsay Gaze, Patrick Hunt, Lorraine Landon, Dr Hurley and more, there has always been such a commitment to developing players, coaches and officials.

"The recent success is a reflection of the hard work of those people and so many more and the responsibility everyone feels to continue their legacy."

Australia's success hasn't just been seen through FIBA Asia Cup gold medals but also through medals on the World Cup stage with the Gems taking home silver from the under-19 tournament in 2025 followed by the Crocs and Sapphires winning bronze at their respective recent under-17 events.

As a country, we also feature in the top 10 of all four FIBA world rankings, have had more than 20 Australians in NBA camps and in the WNBA over the past year, headlined by having Aussie duo Isobel Borlase (Atlanta Dream) and Miela Sowah (Golden State Valkyries) featuring in the WNBA Finals starting this weekend.

The success of Australia's junior program has also led to the likes of Sitaya Fagan, who committed to USC, and Gems star Madi Ryan being amongst the most coveted prospects across the world.

Lonergan said FIBA integrating Australia and New Zealand into the Asian region, which started in 2017, has seen more opportunities for youngsters to test themselves against world-class opposition and fast-track their development.

"There is so much more opportunity for young players now," Lonergan said.

"You look at someone like Madi Ryan, she will finish her journey career potentially playing in four junior World Cups, plus a host of Asia Cups.

"Exposure to quality Asian competition has been huge in so many ways.

"BA has done a tremendous job of promoting all its national teams and ensuring the success of Opals, Boomers, Gliders, Rollers and our junior teams is front and centre.

"Just 16 years ago we only had under-19 Worlds every four years, we now have meaningful competition for under-15 to under-19 teams, not to mention the expanded qualification and competitive opportunities for our senior teams."

Lonergan is one of the most respected and best high performance coaches across the world and said Australia's program has always has a strong reputation globally.

"Australia has always been respected and as the world gets smaller, that reputation has grown," he said.

"We have Australians in coaching, performance and medical roles all over the world and that is a great endorsement of our sport and the work at all levels."

As for what lays ahead in the future, with a FIBA Men's World Cup next year, before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Lonergan said there's still significant improvement for the program ahead.

"The focus is always developing people, from players, to coaches, to officials, performance experts and leaders," he said.

"Improvement will come on the back of investing in people and the Federation has a long, proud history of that."

AUSTRALIA'S SUCCESS - BY THE NUMBERS

• 16 gold medals for Australian national teams since October 2024    
• 25 national team medals in total, with four silver and five bronze  
• 17.57 NBA and WNBA players per million Australian participants, against 17.00 for the US
• 0.86 NBA and WNBA players per million Australians, against 1.80 for the US  
• 24 Australians in NBA camps for 2026-27 and the 2026 WNBA season    
• 2 NBA awards for Dyson Daniels in 2024-25, Most Improved and All-Defensive First Team    
• 1 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Alanna Smith, in 2025    
• 2 USD $100 million contracts, for Daniels and Giddey    
• 1 NBA title (Ducas), 1 EuroLeague Women title (Magbegor), 1 EuroCup (McDowell-White) and 1 NCAA title (Condon)    
• 4 FIBA world rankings, with Australia in the top 10 of all four