National Basketball League commissioner Jeremy Loeliger had an early indication that not all was well in the world. With Australia’s domestic basketball teams due to contest off-season matches in China in June, he had been in close contact with his Chinese counterparts at the end of last year. As the spread of Covid-19 escalated beyond Wuhan, it became clear those games would not take place.
From his Melbourne office, Loeliger watched on as the coronavirus derailed global basketball: first in China, then across Asia and Europe, before eventually impacting Australia. The NBL was one of the first Australian sports to be hit, with the finals ended mid-series on 17 March. It would be another week before the AFL was suspended, and even longer for the NRL to grind to a halt.
“We were very lucky to get through as much of our season as we did,” Loeliger tells Guardian Australia. “It was a very stressful period during that grand final series – we had to make some tough decisions.”
Covid-19’s interruption to the domestic and international sporting landscape comes at an interesting time for the NBL. Since businessman Larry Kestelman acquired the league in 2015, elite basketball in Australia has boomed. In the five subsequent seasons, attendances have increased by 54% to almost one million people in 2019-20. Domestic viewing figures, on SBS Viceland and ESPN, are up nearly half.
Australian basketball icon Andrew Gaze played during the NBL’s glory years in the 1990s. “I think it is arguable we are ahead of those so-called halcyon days,” he says. “Right now we are seeing a real peak in the sport.”
The on-court product has improved dramatically, with Australian players returning home from overseas leagues and young Americans using the NBL as a pathway to the NBA. Boomers veteran Andrew Bogut joined the Sydney Kings, while LaMelo Ball – expected to be in the No 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft – spent the past season with the Illawarra Hawks.
“The last few years have been very promising,” says Loeliger. Mitch Creek, a marquee signing in 2019 for newly-established team South East Melbourne Phoenix, is more emphatic. “This is the second best league in the world – second only to the NBA,” he says.
The pandemic threatens to dash that momentum. The 2020-21 season is not scheduled to begin until October, but the league has pre-empted the expected financial pain by agreeing a major pay cut with the Australian Basketball Players’ Association. Some players have seen their salaries slashed by 50%. In response, some of the league’s stars – including Perth’s Bryce Cotton and Sydney Kings pair Casper Ware and Xavier Cooks – opted out of their contracts.
“We have to play with the cards we are dealt, and we don’t yet know what they will be,” says Loeliger. While the players who exited their NBL contracts can return to the league and opt back in, much will depend on when the league commences relative to overseas competitions. “There is every chance we will need to delay the start of the season,” the NBL commissioner says.
Even if professional sports are able to resume in the months ahead, a behind-closed-doors return would be costly for the NBL – more so than other domestic codes. “We’re not showered in cash by our broadcast deals,” Loeliger says. “Our clubs and the league are very reliant on playing games in front of full stadiums.”
One player staying put is national team regular Creek, who committed to the second year of his Phoenix contract. “We have to repay the time, effort and money that the fans have invested in us,” he says. “They have been phenomenal.” While the small forward’s decision will see him lose half his pay, he remains philosophical: “50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.”
Creek has seen the pandemic’s impact first-hand. “My sister and my mother lost their jobs pretty quick – it’s a hard time for everyone,” he says. As a result, he is focused on staying positive. “This is a great time to reflect on what we get out of the sport, not what we lose from Covid-19,” he continues. “This is basketball – it’s not rocket science. We get paid to play the game. How lucky are we?”
If that attitude is representative of NBL players across the league, the sport will be well-placed to prosper in the post-pandemic era. While other domestic competitions have found themselves riven by in-fighting and power struggles, basketball’s unity could be its greatest asset.
“There is no doubt the sport will ride this out,” says Gaze, who coached the Sydney Kings until last year. “I am incredibly optimistic. The NBL, the club owners, the players’ association, the state associations, Basketball Australia – from the outside looking in, it appears there is good communication, cooperation and understanding. That gives us a great chance to help the NBL grow.”
