Australian sporting history gets a boost with Melbourne’s NBA win

Melbourne is set to make sporting history, with a team from America’s NBA – the world’s biggest basketball league – to play on Australian soil for the first time.

In an events coup* for Victoria that has been years in the making, an NBA team – or possibly more than one – will this year take on their Aussie counterparts* right here Down Under.

While the contract has yet to be signed, at least one NBA side is expected in Melbourne in ­October, to play against Australian NBL teams, likely at Rod Laver Arena, the Herald Sun revealed on Friday.

Victoria will be the only Australian state to host the NBA games, with huge numbers of interstate and overseas tourists expected to flock to the Victorian capital.

The NBA exhibition series* will feature some of the world’s best basketballers, with the ­Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets on the shortlist to travel here.

Sources close to the deal said there was a desire to bring an NBA team with an Australian player on its roster, for the first of what is hoped will be a multi-year deal with the NBA.

Victorian fans will be particularly keen to see their homegrown heroes in action – Melbourne-born star Josh Giddey is at the Bulls, Bendigo-born Dyson Daniels is with Atlanta, and Melbourne’s Jock Landale is at the Rockets. The Mavericks – featuring Victorian Dante Exum, Melbourne-born superstar Kyrie Irving and 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis – are also potential starters.

The Clippers, meanwhile, recently traded Aussie icon Patty Mills on to their roster.

The New Orleans Pelicans, featuring No. 1 draft pick Zion Williamson, and the Indiana Pacers – with Melbourne’s Johnny Furphy on the roster – are also in the mix for the matches to be announced soon.

Melbourne born-and-bred NBA champion ­Andrew Bogut said confirmation of the historic series was “sensational’’.

“It will be sold out regardless of who comes,’’ he said. “It is going to be NBA versus NBL … it is exciting. It will probably be Chicago or Atlanta, one of those squads, which will be awesome. There is no doubt, if you had one of those play against even the cricket team, it would sell out.”

The news – which will thrill Aussie fans, who hold the biggest number of NBA League Pass streaming subscriptions outside the US – has sparked hopes Melbourne could host NBA matches every year.

The NBA has played regular season matches in Tokyo, Mexico and London.

The Victorian state government declined to comment on the deal, with Sports and Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos in New Orleans ahead of Monday’s NFL Super Bowl.

The Herald Sun reported that the contract for Melbourne to host an NBA side has already been “locked in’’, according to multiple sources, but final details have been “slightly delayed’’ while the US opponents were confirmed.

A decision is also yet to be made on whether NBL powerhouses* Melbourne United or Sydney Kings – or a squad of NBL All-Stars – takes on the visitors.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• coup: an exciting and sometimes unexpected success
• counterpart: person or thing with the same function as another in a different place or organisation
• exhibition series: special set of games, events or shows outside the competition calendar that display or showcase a sport or other activity
• powerhouses: person, group, team, country or organisation with great success, power, energy or influence

EXTRA READING

Bendigo boy’s new NBA nickname

How tall is the world’s tallest teen?

NBL final hands underdogs fairytale finish

QUICK QUIZ

1. Which capital city is expected to exclusively host the first Australian NBA exhibition series?
2. Where was Dyson Daniels born and bred?
3. Which NBA team picked up Aussie icon Patty Mills in a recent trade?
4. Which player was the No. 1 NBA draft pick this season and which team signed him?
5. Where is Victorian Sports and Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos and why?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Aussie NBA stars
Choose one of the Aussie NBA basketball stars mentioned in this news story. Research the player to create a profile about their career. Ensure that your profile features details about the hard work, sacrifices and/or challenges they may have faced along the way.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Write to support or rebut the following statement: Melbourne deserves to be known as the “sporting capital” of Australia.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY
Exercise the body and the mind
Exercise is not only important for the body, but it’s a lot of fun as well. Let’s bring more exercise into classroom learning by creating a VCOP PE game.

You can add a VCOP challenge to pretty much any game, and it’s a great way to encourage the teacher to let the class play more games.

Here is an example to get you started, then you create one of your own.

VCOP dodgeball
The normal rules of dodgeball apply. Two teams throw soft balls at each other and if you get hit, you have to sit out. The team who knocks out all the players on the other team, wins.

VCOP challenge: when you get eliminated, collect a mini-whiteboard and a basic clause from the sidelines. Up-level the sentence (make it better) by adding VCOP. When you show the teacher your completed sentence, you can return to the game.

Play for a set amount of time and the team with the most players left on the court wins.

Support: use the “Up-Level It” card set – players have to complete one card from the set instead of completing all VCOP challenges.

What can you come up with?