The National Basketball League (NBL) and Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa (TBA) are set to add new teams in 2025, backed by owners in the Indian National Basketball League (INBL) Pro.
The proposed expansion, which is now under negotiation, would see each new team filled with the best players from India, while roster spots will also be open to international imports and Kiwi players.
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The move is the brainchild of former NBL general manager and current Sky TV employee Justin Nelson, who heads up Sky’s NZ basketball league management team.
“India is the most populated country in the world, so the chance to take New Zealand basketball to more than 1.4 billion new fans is an incredible opportunity,” said Nelson.
“Basing the INBL-owned franchises in New Zealand would also open our leagues to new fans in (New Zealand) where more than 300,000 people of Indian ethnicity live.”
BBNZ chief executive Dillon Boucher was excited by the possible benefits for basketball in New Zealand that would come with the addition of the new INBL-backed teams.
“This will open up opportunities to expose both our local leagues – Tauihi for women’s basketball and NBL for men’s basketball – to global markets,” said Boucher.
Basketball in India is booming, particularly among its youth and in schools. The recently rebranded INBL Pro has played one six-team, three-month season in 2022-23, then a series of men's and women's regional and national 3x3 tournaments later in 2023.
The league was planning an August start for its second season - which would fit in well with the NBL - but in May, the Captains Professional Basketball League (CPBL), which manages and operates the INBL Pro, sued the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), which owns the league, over contract breaches.
The privately-owned Elite Professional Basketball League (EPBL), which is planning to have 16 franchises, is exists in India.
INBL Pro chief executive Parveen Batish views the potential move into New Zealand as the perfect next step to advance the game in India.
“Playing in these two strong New Zealand leagues will help create aspirational pathways for Indian players, which will drive participation and engagement across India,” said Batish.
“Indian ballers need increased opportunities to play in high-quality leagues. By operating teams in New Zealand in partnership with BBNZ, we will give our athletes and coaches the chance to learn modern skills of game preparation, scouting, game adjustment and individual skills. It will also give them a platform to demonstrate their skills to a wider international audience.
Jonny Errington, Sky’s chief content and commercial officer, was also a big fan of BBNZ’s initiative to look to broaden the global fan connection to its leagues.
With a memorandum of understanding between BBNZ and INBL Pro in place, the two parties are now in the process of finalising participation agreements with the INBL-owned teams, which both parties are optimistic will be able to be concluded in the next month.
The 2025 NBL is due to commence in March and Tauihi in October, with all games broadcast live on Sky Sport in New Zealand, and via a number of partners internationally.
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