12 title-winning teams, one weekend for all the marbles

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Warwick Senators coach Brad Robbins was in Ahmedabad with Australia's under-18 side when his team won the NBL1 West championship by 26 points without him, and both of the sides he left behind and joined are still playing this week.

Australia meet Chinese Taipei in their Group A decider at the Asia Cup on Monday afternoon. The Senators fly to Adelaide this week as one of 10 conference champions in the NBL1 National Finals, with NBL championship winner Paul Rogers having run the side at RAC Arena in Robbins' place.

The finals run from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 August at the State Basketball Centre at the Adelaide Showground, the first time Adelaide has hosted them after Canberra, the Sunshine Coast, Joondalup and Melbourne. Six men's teams and six women's, live and free on Kayo Freebies, with both championship games on the Sunday.

NBL1 confirmed the field and the seedings on Monday morning. Friday is for seeding, Saturday is semi-finals, and the top two in each competition meet on Sunday. More than 120 players and coaches are expected to travel.

Norths Bears are the men's top seed, ahead of Forestville, Rockingham, Gold Coast, Frankston and Canberra. Knox Raiders lead the women's, ahead of Bankstown, Waverley, Mackay, Warwick and Sturt. The reigning men's champions, Canberra, are seeded last of the six.

"Bringing the champions of every corner of the country together in the one place is what makes this event so special, and Adelaide's rich basketball history makes it the perfect backdrop," NBL1 general manager Tyrone Thwaites said.

THE MEN'S SIX

Forestville Eagles come out of Central after a 77-58 win over the South Adelaide Panthers on Saturday 8 August, a rematch of the 2024 decider they also won, and back-to-back 16-2 seasons behind them.

Gold Coast Rollers took North from the Ipswich Force on Sunday 9 August in the highest-scoring final of the lot. Lamar Patterson put 40 on them. The Rollers answered with 120.

Frankston Blues beat the Eltham Wildcats on Saturday 15 August for a first South championship, coming from behind inside the last four minutes.

Rockingham Flames outlasted the Geraldton Buccaneers on the same night in the West decider, 66-62, in a game neither side could get away in.

Norths Bears took East from the Sutherland Sharks 76-64 on Sunday, with three NBL championship winners in the one line-up. Wani Swaka Lo Buluk scored 12 of their 21 points in the final quarter, Fabijan Krslovic took Grand Final MVP, and Hunter Goodrick had 16 points and nine rebounds before joining South East Melbourne Phoenix for NBL27.

Canberra Gunners qualify automatically as the defending national champions.

THE WOMEN'S SIX

Sturt Sabres won Central over the West Adelaide Bearcats on Saturday 8 August, a first Central title in a fourth grand final in five years.

Mackay Meteorettes took North from the Townsville Flames in a deciding third game on Sunday 9 August.

Knox Raiders won South 80-54 over the Waverley Falcons on Saturday 15 August, back to back, on a 15-game winning streak, with Paige Bradley taking Grand Final MVP.

Warwick Senators beat the Cockburn Cougars by 26 in the West, in the game Robbins watched from India.

Bankstown Bruins took East from Manly Warringah 90-85 on Sunday for a first NBL1 East championship. Shyla Heal had 19 of her 26 points before half-time and took Grand Final MVP, and Tahlia Tupaea went 19-from-19 at the foul line.

The sixth women's team is where it gets unusual. Knox qualified twice over, as South champions and as defending national champions, so one of the six slots had to go somewhere else. It goes to Waverley, the side Knox beat in the South decider.

NBL1 settled the question on Monday. Waverley are in as NBL1 South Runners Up, and they are seeded third, ahead of both Mackay and Warwick, who won their conferences.

Two of the twelve have already played each other this month, and it was not close. Knox beat Waverley by 26 in the South decider on 15 August, and both now travel to Adelaide, the winner as champions and the loser as the team that fills the slot the winner cannot use twice.

Not everyone thinks the event is worth having.

Jason Cadee called the National Finals a waste of time on basketball.com.au's Cut to the Jase podcast this month, and his credentials make that awkward reading. He is a former NBL1 North MVP at the Gold Coast Rollers and an NBL1 East star at the Bankstown Bruins, and both clubs are in this year's field.

His argument is about availability. NBL and WNBL pre-season commitments pull the best players out every August, and Cadee says clubs are now withdrawing them before conference finals have even finished.

"We have to decide where this is going, because we're starting to see teams pull their players out, saying no, can't play the rest of the season in finals," he said. "And if NBL teams are starting to do that, well, what are we doing?"

He went further. "The people that probably care about it aren't the people that we actually want playing at it, because they know they're not going to even get there. So I just think it's a waste of time."

The record gives him something to stand on. Six NBL players missed the 2025 Nationals, among them Todd Blanchfield, Lat Mayen and Fabijan Krslovic. Krslovic is the one to watch this week. He has just won Grand Final MVP for Norths, and Adelaide is the test of whether he gets on the plane.

The 2025 Knox Raiders women are the exception everyone reaches for. They took a full squad to Canberra and won the title.

Tyrone Thwaites gave a more measured answer than the one he gave the announcement. "We do not believe the value of a national NBL1 event is dependent on every team having every professional player available," he said, while accepting that availability "strengthens the product" and is under review. He also said NBL1 is "well advanced in considering how our national-level product can evolve from 2027".

Adelaide gets three days of it from Friday, and the tournament being played there is already being redesigned.