Every league, every Aussie, and how the game works

• Every league we follow, from the NBL and WNBL to the NBA, WNBA and NCAA
• Scores, ladders and fixtures for every competition, converted to Australian time
• The rules, the positions, the gear and how to get started playing

Australian basketball no longer sits in one time zone. On a Tuesday morning an Australian tips off in the NBA, by Wednesday another is starting for a college team through a US winter, and on Saturday night the NBL fills an arena at home. Nobody broadcasts all of it and no scoreboard collects it, so we built a place that does.

This page is the map. It covers what we follow, where to find the scores, who the players are, how the game works, and what you need to play it.

The leagues we cover

The NBL

The National Basketball League is Australia's flagship men's competition and one of the strongest outside the NBA. Ten clubs, a season that runs from spring into autumn, and a roster mix of Australian internationals, imports and NBA-bound teenagers on Next Stars contracts.

We cover every round: match reports, roster moves through free agency, injury news, and the business decisions that shape the league. Follow it at our NBL home, or go straight to the schedule, the ladder or the statistical leaders.

The WNBL

The Women's National Basketball League has been running since 1981 and has produced most of the Opals who went on to win World Cup and Olympic medals. It has grown sharply in the past few seasons, both in broadcast reach and in the calibre of the WNBA players who come south for the Australian summer.

Our coverage runs the same way as the NBL: every signing, every round, every finals series. Start at the WNBL home, or head for the schedule, the standings or the stats.

NBL1

NBL1 is where most Australian professionals come from and where a great many return. Five conferences across the country feed into a national finals weekend, and the standard is high enough that NBL and WNBL players fill out rosters in the off-season. If you want to see the next group coming through, this is where they are.

Find it at the NBL1 home, with the schedule, standings and stats.

The NBA

Australians have been a fixture in the NBA since Luc Longley arrived in 1991, and the group is now large enough that on most nights of the season at least one is playing. We track all of them: minutes, roles, contracts, trades and the games that matter.

Our Aussies in the NBA hub carries the lot, and there are individual pages for players including Dyson Daniels and Josh Giddey. The NBA schedule, standings and stats all convert to Australian time.

The WNBA

Australia has sent players to the WNBA since its first season, and the current group is one of the strongest we have had. They arrive from the WNBL, from college, and increasingly straight out of the Opals program.

Follow them at Aussies in the WNBA, with the schedule, standings and stats.

NCAA

American college basketball is now the main pathway out of Australia. Hundreds of Australians hold Division I scholarships across the men's and women's games, and the United States college system is where most of them spend three or four formative years before turning professional.

We publish a running list of every one of them: every Australian in NCAA men's basketball and every Australian in NCAA women's basketball, both updated as rosters move. The season ends in March Madness, a knockout tournament that is one of the great events in sport, and it expands to 76 teams from 2027.

Europe, Asia and the rest

Plenty of Australians build long careers outside the United States. The EuroLeague is the strongest competition in the world after the NBA, and Japan's B.League has become a genuine destination, with Australian players and Australian coaches. We cover both, at EuroLeague and Asia.

The Boomers and the Opals

The national teams are where it all comes together. The Boomers broke a long medal drought with Olympic bronze in Tokyo, a campaign built on Patty Mills scoring 42 in the medal game. The Opals have a longer and more decorated record still, with World Cup and Olympic medals stretching back decades.

We cover every window, every qualifier and every tournament, including the full Opals squad for the 2026 World Cup with each player's tournament record.

Scores, fixtures and standings

Every league we cover has a live schedule, a ladder and a statistical leaderboard, and all of them show tip-off times converted to Australian time. That last part matters more than it sounds: an American evening game is the following morning here, so a fixture list published in US dates will send you to the wrong day.

Start with today's games in whichever league you follow, then use the standings and stats pages to see where a team or a player actually sits.

The players

We keep individual pages for Australians in the NBA and the WNBA, with their season numbers, their contract situation and every story we have written about them. Ben Simmons, Joe Ingles and Patty Mills all have one, alongside the current group.

For the players coming through, the Unders and State Reps sections follow national junior championships and state programs, which is where most professional careers can be traced back to.

How to play

The rules, in short

Two teams of five try to put the ball through a hoop 3.05 metres off the floor. A shot from inside the arc is worth two, from outside it three, and a free throw one. FIBA games run four quarters of 10 minutes, the NBA plays 12-minute quarters, and the clock stops constantly, so an hour of basketball takes closer to two.

The rest is mostly about what you cannot do. You cannot run with the ball without dribbling, you cannot dribble, stop and start again, and you cannot stand in the key for more than three seconds on offence. Contact that puts an opponent at a disadvantage is a foul, and enough of them send the other team to the free-throw line. Our full guide to the rules covers every violation and every foul in detail, and this explainer is the place to start if you are completely new to the game.

Positions

Traditionally there are five: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and centre. The point guard organises the offence, the shooting guard scores from the perimeter, the small forward does a bit of everything, the power forward works close to the basket and the centre is the tallest player on the floor.

That description is now about twenty years out of date. Modern teams ask their big men to shoot threes and their guards to defend post-ups, and most rosters are built around what a player can do rather than where they nominally stand. Watch any NBL or NBA game and you will see five players who all handle, all shoot and all switch on defence.

The court

A FIBA court is 28 metres by 15, with the hoop 3.05 metres above the floor and the three-point arc 6.75 metres out at the top. NBA courts are slightly larger and the NBA arc is further again, at 7.24 metres. The key, the painted rectangle under each basket, is where the three-second rule applies and where most fouls happen.

The skills worth building first

Everything starts with being able to catch, pivot and pass without panicking. After that, shooting form, dribbling with both hands and defensive footwork. Beginners get the most out of repetition close to the basket rather than heaving threes, and the players who progress are almost always the ones who did the boring work early.

For anyone training seriously, proper physical preparation matters as much as skill work, particularly through the teenage growth years when the injury risk is highest.

Gear

Balls

Size 7 is the men's ball, size 6 the women's and the standard for most junior girls' competitions, and size 5 is used for under-12s. Indoor balls are made of composite or genuine leather and are ruined quickly on concrete. Outdoor balls use a rubber or tougher composite cover that grips well on rough surfaces but never feels quite the same in a gym.

If you only buy one, buy the one that suits where you actually play. A premium indoor ball used on an outdoor court is a wasted purchase.

Shoes

Guards generally want a lower cut and a lighter shoe for changing direction. Bigger players want more cushioning and more support under a heavier landing. Everyone wants traction that suits their court, because a shoe that grips beautifully on a clean floor can be dangerous on a dusty one.

Fit matters more than the name on the side. Try them on late in the day when your feet have swollen, and leave a thumbnail of room at the toe.

Hoops and systems

Portable systems fill with water or sand and suit a driveway. In-ground systems cost more and need concreting in, but they do not move when you hang off the rim. Tempered glass backboards give the truest rebound, acrylic is the common middle ground, and polycarbonate is the cheapest and the deadest. A regulation backboard is 1.8 metres wide, and anything narrower than about 1.4 metres will feel cramped for a grown adult.

If you are building something more permanent, we have looked at what a proper backyard court involves.

Junior equipment

Lower the ring before you shrink the child's shooting form. A seven-year-old shooting at a full-height hoop learns to throw the ball, not to shoot it. Most junior competitions in Australia use a lowered ring and a smaller ball for exactly that reason.

Getting started, and coaching

Aussie Hoops is Basketball Australia's entry program and runs through local associations across the country. It is where most Australian players start, usually somewhere between five and ten years old, and it is deliberately built around fun rather than competition.

From there the pathway runs through club and representative basketball, state performance programs, the Centre of Excellence in Canberra, and the national junior teams at under-17 and under-19 level. Plenty of players skip steps, and plenty arrive late. The NBL1 pathway has become one of the most reliable routes into a professional career.

Coaches will find tutorials and breakdowns in our coaching section, and players will find skills work in the player tutorials.

Where the game came from

Dr James Naismith invented basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts in December 1891, using two peach baskets and a soccer ball, because he needed something his students could play indoors through a New England winter. The original game had thirteen rules and no dribbling.

It spread fast. The NBA formed in 1946, added the three-point line in 1979, and the 1992 Dream Team turned the sport into a genuinely global one. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James each defined a stretch of what followed.

Australia's story runs alongside it. Andrew Gaze played five Olympics and remains the NBL's defining figure. Luc Longley became the first Australian to play in the NBA and won three titles with Chicago. Andrew Bogut went first overall in the 2005 draft and won a championship at Golden State. And Lauren Jackson is, by most measures, the best basketball player this country has produced.

Common questions

How long is a basketball game? Four quarters of 10 minutes under FIBA rules, or 12 in the NBA. With stoppages, expect around two hours.

What size ball should I use? Size 7 for men and boys from about 15, size 6 for women and most junior girls, size 5 for under-12s.

How high is the hoop? 3.05 metres, or 10 feet, at every level from the NBA down. Junior competitions often lower it.

How many players are on a team? Five on the court at a time, from a roster that is usually 10 to 15.

What are the basic rules? Dribble to move, do not travel, do not return the ball to the backcourt, and do not foul. Everything else is detail, and the full guide has it.

The language of the game

And-one A basket scored while being fouled, plus the free throw.

Assist A pass that leads directly to a score.

Backcourt violation Returning the ball behind halfway once the offence has crossed it.

Block Deflecting a shot on its way to the ring.

Boxing out Sealing an opponent off the rebound.

Double-double Ten or more in two statistical categories.

Efficiency FIBA's single-number rating combining the good and the bad.

Fast break Attacking before the defence is set.

Isolation Clearing out so one player can attack one defender.

Key The painted area under each basket.

Pick and roll A screen followed by a cut to the basket.

Plus-minus The margin while a player is on the floor.

Screen Legally blocking a defender's path to free a teammate.

Small ball Playing without a traditional centre for speed and shooting.

Triple-double Ten or more in three statistical categories.

Turnover Losing possession without a shot.