As revealed exclusively in The Canberra Times on Friday, both the Boomers and Opals will take on New Zealand in a double-header at the AIS Arena on August 18.

Getting the injured Jackson back on the court is key to not only immediate success, but also long-term planning as the Opals attempt to win an elusive gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Jackson has been sidelined for the past nine months with back and hamstring issues and is sitting out the WNBA season with the Seattle Storm.

''We've had a bit of a chat and the plan would be to have her for the Oceania series,'' Joyce said. ''She's a bit of an icon in Canberra, so it'd be great [if she plays]. If we want to achieve what we want to achieve in Rio [in 2016] we need a balance of youth and experience, and Lauren's crucial to that.''

While the Australian men's team should be able to call on all of its overseas contingent, including NBA trio Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes and ACT product Patty Mills, several of the leading Opals players will be in the middle of their American season.

Elizabeth Cambage, Erin Phillips, Rachel Jarry, Jenna O'Hea and Penny Taylor all play in the WNBA, putting a cloud on their availability for the Opals. ''We've probably got to pick our times to pull girls out of the WNBA,'' Joyce said.

The London Olympic bronze medallists are expected to make light work of the world No.22-ranked Kiwis to secure the sole Oceania berth for next year's world championship. The Boomers have already qualified and are playing to determine their seeding.

As is the case with Joyce, this will be the first chance for Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis to begin building towards the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero.

The Boomers bowed out in the quarter-finals to gold medallist the US last year, but a fully fit Bogut and the emergence of Mills and Baynes will help their push towards a first medal in men's basketball. Mills has already spoken with Lemanis about wanting to be involved in the Oceania series.

The next target is Bogut, who overcame an injury-ruined 12 months to become a major force for the Golden State Warriors in their push to the second round of the NBA play-offs.

''I'm hopefully meeting with Bogues in a couple weeks' time, but he's obviously got to do what is right for his body,'' Lemanis said.

''Our ultimate goal is to win a medal there and we need him to be in the best position come Rio. Patty has indicated he'd like to come in, and with the game in Canberra, it'd be fantastic to have him.''

The two-game Oceania series begins in Auckland on August 14.