The Canberra Capitals are set to throw 17-year-old Eziyoda Magbegor into the WNBL after finalising a deal to recruit the year 12 student for next season.
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The Capitals are expected to unveil Magbegor on Thursday morning as they continue to build their roster for the 2017-18 WNBL campaign.
Magbegor was the youngest player in the Australian under-19s side which won a bronze medal at the world championships two years ago.
She was also the most valuable player of the Australian under-17s gold-medal winning team in the same year after leading the charge in ending the United States' 28-game winning streak at under-17s level.
Now the 193 centimetre forward looms as a key cog in the University of Canberra-based Capitals' hopes of ending their finals drought and becoming a WNBL championship contender.
The Capitals are close to finalising their squad, with veteran Nat Hurst committing to a Capitals comeback. She will join Kate Gaze, Rachel Jarry, Lauren Scherf, Abbey Wehrung, Keely Froling and American import Jordan Hooper.
Meanwhile, Basketball ACT has flagged its intentions to build an $8 million extension to its Belconnen facility to help the sport grow and attract NBL pre-season games.
Basketball officials wrote to stakeholders this week to detail their plans to build three courts, including a roll-in, roll-out showcourt, in the coming years.
But any deal will be reliant on government funding and Basketball ACT president David Leaney said the organisation would need to save at least $1 million to start the project.
A detailed letter to the capital's basketball community said the earliest the project would start would be 2019, with a finish date in either 2020 or 2021.
"It's a definite plan, but before we can kick it into place we need to be able to afford it," Leaney said.
"Part of that is putting savings in the bank account. We've already started that, but we need to build on it.
"We have to look at fundraising, sponsorship, operational profits ... it's going to take us a couple of years. We'll need to also put in a bid for funding from the government.
"We just wanted to show people we're thinking about it and it is definitely on our radar. We need more courts in Canberra."
The roll-in, roll-out showcourt would be able to seat between 1000 or 1500 spectators and would be ideal for NBL pre-season fixtures.
The NBL published its draw on Wednesday for the 2017-18 season but there will be no games in Canberra.
Basketball ACT is keen to forge a relationship with the Illawarra Hawks, starting with luring pre-season games to Canberra before trying to strike a deal for NBL regular season matches.
The AIS Arena is still the ideal venue for NBL games because of its size, despite the prospect of a showcourt in Belconnen or the National Convention Centre.
The Capitals will move their home games to the convention centre this season to play on a new $250,000 court.
Basketball ACT has also just opened its new three-on-three courts at Belconnen, with Basketball Australia using the construction as a blueprint for other sites around the country.
Three-on-three basketball has been added to the Olympic Games program for 2020 in Tokyo.
