Australia’s national basketball teams, the Opals and the Boomers, are undefeated in Commonwealth Games history. This statistic is less impressive than it might appear, given the sport has featured at just one prior edition (Melbourne 2006), but it does foreshadow the expected Australian dominance as basketball returns to the Commonwealth Games. When the Boomers open their account in Cairns on Friday afternoon against Canada and the Opals face Mozambique later that evening in Townsville, there will be long odds for anything other than comprehensive victories.
Although both squads consist predominantly of players from the domestic NBL and WNBL competitions – given the NBA mid-season and the WNBA beginning next month – each team is packed with talent. The exceptional, and sometimes controversial, Liz Cambage is joined by the likes of Belinda Snell and Stephanie Talbot for the Opals, while 18-year-old talent Ezi Magbegor is set to make her tournament debut. For the Boomers, Damian Martin, Brad Newley and Chris Goulding lead an experienced roster of local talent. The late withdrawal of Adelaide 36ers stand-out Mitch Creek dents the Boomers’ forward stocks, though the team still have by far the strongest line-up at the Games.
Tasked with containing Australia during the group stage are Canada, England and Mozambique in the women’s competition and Nigeria, New Zealand and Canada in the men’s. Gold Coast 2018 organisers have adopted an unusual tournament format, which sees the top two teams from these pools progress to the semi-finals while the bottom two face the best teams from the second pool in qualifying finals. With Australia ranked far ahead of the majority of its rivals – and Canada, the nearest possible challenger, sending a youthful line-up – the Boomers and Opals are strong favourites to retain their unbeaten records.
Predicted success for Australia at the 2018 Games coincides with the nation’s continued rise in the sport. While the Opals have long been an international force, with three Olympic silver medals and a world championship triumph on their record, the Boomers are enjoying a resurgence due partly to the proliferation of Australians in the NBA.
Leading that charge is Ben Simmons. The Melbourne-born prodigy is having a stand-out debut year in the NBA after being drafted with the No 1 pick in 2016 and then losing a season to injury. He is the leading candidate for rookie of the year, with a first-year statistics line that places him in rarefied company alongside the likes of LeBron James and Magic Johnson. Simmons was perhaps unfortunate not to earn an All-Star appearance – which would have made him only the fourth rookie to achieve such a feat in two decades – but he is otherwise living up to the hype.
While Simmons’ star may be burning bright, he is not the only Antipodean enjoying success in the NBA. One or more Australians were on the roster of the championship winning team in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Matthew Dellavedova built a cult following at the Cleveland Cavaliers before taking a pay-day move to the Milwaukee Bucks. Late blossoming Joe Ingles is shining at the Utah Jazz, setting a franchise three-point record in March. Aron Baynes is demonstrating his consistency with the Boston Celtics, who are currently second in the Eastern Conference, while Patty Mills continues to contribute at the San Antonio Spurs – averaging almost 10 points per game.
This on-court success is consolidating NBA fandom among compatriots. Australia is the second largest market for the NBA’s League Pass live-streaming product, behind only the United States, and last season saw a 21% increase in subscribers. While an NBA exhibition match on these shores remains elusive, Team USA will play two matches against the Boomers in Melbourne in August 2019 ahead of the Fiba World Cup. The domestic NBL has shown renewed vigour and concluded for another season on Saturday with the last encounter of a thrilling five-match final series. Such is the reputation of Australia’s national basketball academy, meanwhile, that the NBA recently established a global development program alongside it in Canberra.
Amid these promising developments, two more Commonwealth Games gold medals might not seem particularly significant for Australian basketball. But with the women’s World Cup scheduled for September, the men’s equivalent next year and the 2020 Olympics a major goal for both teams, time in camp will always be gladly received.
If or when the Boomers take to the Gold Coast Convention Centre court for the gold medal match on Sunday week, Simmons and the contingent of Australians in the NBA will be thousands of kilometres away preparing for the NBA playoffs. On both sides of the Pacific, the ongoing success of Australian basketballers bodes well for the sport’s future in this country.
