Australian Basketball School Championships live stream: Will ABSC unearth next-gen NBA stars? (Basketball Australia School Championships)

NBL and potentially NBA scouts are set to descend on the Australian Basketball School Championships where over 1500 players will compete. Here’s who to watch and how to stream.

Josh Giddey #3 of the Oklahoma City Thunder played in the ABSC

Australian basketball’s elite development pathways are the envy of countries around the world and one of the key events that showcases future stars each year is the Australian Basketball School Championships.

The elite schools competition featuring future US college, NBL, WNBL and perhaps even NBA and WNBA stars runs from November 28 to December 2 on the Gold Coast and will be livestreamed by News Corp’s KommunityTV platform.

Featuring hundreds of the top-ranked junior basketballers in the country, the ABSC has a rich history of nurturing talent for future success in top-tier competitions in Australia, the US college system and professional leagues around the world.

The ABSC along with the Australian Junior Championships, all run by Basketball Australia, are part of a world class production line that has led to record numbers of Aussies competing in the NBA and WNBA and helped make our domestic leagues world class.

Many of the schools competing at the ABSC have some of the best junior coaches in the country which is also playing a huge role in quality of the young players coming through the system.

News Corp’s masthead websites and its KTV platform with livestream every boys and girls Championship Division games and a host of other matches.

Centre of Excellence NBA Global Academy Technical Director Martin Clarke will be one of many interested onlookers running the rule over the next Patty Mills, Josh Giddey or Lauren Jackson at the championships in Carrara.

The former Adelaide 36ers head coach and Australian Boomers assistant suggests anyone with a passing interest in basketball should tune in, given some of the talent on the Gold Coast could be household names in a few short years.

“It’s going to be a collection of some really good players and coaches and anyone in the vicinity should get down and watch some really good basketball, because it’s going to be a high level of play,” Clarke said.

“We’re going to the tournament to watch guys we know, either in our program or who have been identified already, and we’ll be looking for other players who maybe we don’t know enough about just yet.

“I would be surprised if there’s not representatives from NBL teams at this tournament. This is where the next crop of NBL players comes from – and certainly we hope at some point, one or even a few of these players may eventually make it to the NBA.

“It’s one of the few chances Australian kids get to play at a truly national championships through the year. The players who make this level should be applauded.”

CoE graduate Alex Toohey has already stamped his papers as a player of the future after debuting for the Boomers in their recent FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

He will feature for a stacked Lake Ginninderra College team that enters as pre-tournament favourites, though each of the eight championship division sides boasts talent capable of making a mark.

Clarke has been entrenched in the player development pathway for decades and said Australia has always punched well above its weight on the world basketball stage and that looked set to continue.

“I think for a long time Australia has been held up as one of the places to look at as far as junior development (goes) because we’ve done better than our population base suggests we should,” he said.

“That’s certainly getting stronger and more apparent to the rest of the world. Australia is doing things in a unique way and in a way that’s proving to have long term success.

“I put it down to the fact we have a small basketball population base, so we cannot rely on weight of numbers. You have to put time and effort into players to develop them as basketballers and people as well.

“Sometimes players can fall off the rails for whatever reason and it’s our job to ensure players are catered for in areas outside of the game, so they can do as well as they can (on the court).”

That person-first approach is exemplified by the number of academy players that have been released by their programs to play at the schools championships this month.

“Do the right thing by the player and acknowledge the fact that before they came to the AIS or the CoE, there’s been a lot of people who have done a lot of work before they got here,” Clarke said.

“Those schools or clubs … it’s important to acknowledge the fact they’ve put that time and effort in. Schools have put time, effort and money into these players and they shouldn’t be disadvantaged by us not allowing players to go back and play in these tournaments.”

Originally published as Australian Basketball School Championships live stream: Will ABSC unearth next-gen NBA stars? (Basketball Australia School Championships)