How one man with a plan rebuilt the relationship between the NBA and Aussie basketball
SEVEN years ago one man with a plan reached out to the NBA in a bid to bring Aussie basketball into the big time — the response from the best league in the game hurt to hear.
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IT wasn’t long ago when the notion of the NBL playing one pre-season NBA game was laughable.
Unfortunately for Australian basketball, it was the NBA laughing the loudest.
The year was 2012 and now NBL boss Larry Kestelman had just purchased the Melbourne Tigers franchise, now known as United.
At the time, the domestic league was struggling.
Dysfunctional management over a number of years led to the sport dropping off a cliff following its glory years in the early-90s.
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The NBL’s relationship with the NBA was also fractured. Broken promises prompted America’s best basketball league to distance itself from the Australian market professionally.
Kestelman had little knowledge of this strained relationship, but his proven business sense told him it had to change.
It’s why he reached out to an NBA official — inviting him for dinner on his multimillion-dollar boat on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.
After a few quiet beverages, the high-ranking official told Kestelman exactly what the NBA thought about the Australian league.
“And it hurt to hear,” Kestelman recalled.
Get hyped! The @NBL is taking on the @NBA in SEVEN pre-season games this year #NBLxNBA pic.twitter.com/l2BgOGJlkm
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) June 27, 2018
“In a very clear and polite way, he told me we’ve let a lot of people down.
“He said we as a sport had not done ourselves any favours and professionalism not quite being there.
“From the NBA’s point of view, they certainly weren’t rushing out to do a lot of business with the NBL or Basketball in general.
“They loved the Australian market and felt it was important from grassroots point of view, but from a professionalism point of view they weren’t quite ready to engage.
“But I wanted to make sure we could turn it around.”
Flash forward seven years and the NBL and Basketball Australia have worked tirelessly to build a respected and valued relationship with the NBA.
This was on display in its full glory in Melbourne on Wednesday when the NBL announced a record seven pre-season games on American soil.
#NBLxNBA is back, and this time we’re taking it to the NEXT LEVEL...
— NBL (@NBL) June 27, 2018
7⃣ GAMES. 6⃣ CITIES. 5⃣ NBL TEAMS. 6⃣ NBA TEAMS.
BRING. IT. ON.
ALL the details âž® https://t.co/hOvHcfIimY pic.twitter.com/wEjk6wy90z
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and New Zealand will all take part in matches this September and October.
The Kings play the Los Angeles Clippers in Hawaii on September 30, while the historic series will start on September 28 with Ben Simmons’ Philadelphia 76ers taking on defending champions Melbourne United.
Fresh off winning the NBA Rookie of the Year, Simmons now has the chance to take on his hometown city Melbourne in a mouth-watering clash.
Australian Utah Jazz star Joe Ingles will also play against his city of birth, Adelaide, on October 5.
Following the success of last year’s maiden pre-season games, highlighted by United’s one-point loss to a star-studded Oklahoma City, the extended series is a credit to the NBA’s growing respect for the NBL competition.
For Kestelman, five NBL clubs taking on some of the biggest NBA franchises is a reward for years of hard work.
From meeting with officials at the NBA’s head office in New York to sitting down with individual clubs, the NBL boss hasn’t stopped in his quest to build broken bridges.
“So I’m over the moon just to have this opportunity with the NBA,” he said.
“It has been a rollercoaster ride for me and my family.
“The NBA is a super professional business and everything you see here takes days, weeks to get approved.
“They are very protective of their product, logo and game, so for them to be involved with us at this level now is a huge testament.
“We are extraordinary grateful to them for letting us into their family and allowing us to partner in such a way.
“I can’t think of another league in the world where they are as closely related to as us”.
Prized Sydney Kings recruit Andrew Bogut couldn’t be prouder to see the NBL restore the NBA’s faith.
“Larry has brought a level of professionalism that should be the minimum in the NBL,” said Bogut, who spent 13 seasons in the NBA with five clubs.
“But in the past the NBL was talking to a different CEO every year.
“There was a lot of movement with staff and the NBA see that and think you guys couldn’t organise a chook raffle and we don’t have the confidence to give you an NBA game.
“But with that professionalism from Larry, everything has taken care of itself.”
Now Australian basketball’s future couldn’t be brighter.