More than 60 of the best young basketball players from around the world will descend on Canberra on Sunday to showcase and develop their skills in front of NBA players, coaches and scouts in a momentous first for the capital.
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The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) will host the 12th edition of the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp.
The program, which is a joint venture of the two biggest basketball bodies in the world - NBA and FIBA - is a global development and community outreach initiative designed to grow the game internationally.
In attendance in Canberra for the camp will be Australian Olympic bronze medallist and Dallas Mavericks' Josh Green, 2022 NBA All-Star Jarrett Allen, Phoenix Suns up-and-comer Cameron Johnson and Chicago Bulls guard Coby White.
Former WNBA and Opals legends Kristi Harrower, Annie La Fleur and Jenni Screen will also be on deck to help boys and girls from across Asia take their game to the next level. The weekend's camp will be only the second time Australia has hosted since 2016 in Melbourne, and it's a first for Canberra.
Off the back of the success of the NBA Global Academy - at the AIS - which has seen Aussie youngsters Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels drafted in the first round by NBA teams, the BWB program being held here highlights how highly-regarded Canberra is as the heart of basketball development in the nation.
"I think it's pretty exciting for us and where we're positioned," Patrick Hunt, the BWB Camp Director and current president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches, said.
"Without the cooperation of the NBA, FIBA, Basketball Australia and the AIS, we wouldn't have been able to achieve this.
"Basketball Without Borders is a fairly significant event. There's 105 BWB players who have gone on to be drafted or signed in the NBA or WNA, so that's pretty big. The trickle-down effect from all this is going to be tremendous."
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Hunt is a man who has seen first-hand how Canberra has dramatically grown to be this exciting hub of youth talent, especially in recent years.
The former Cannons head coach, AIS men's basketball head coach and Boomers assistant coach said the BWB camp is a major endorsement from FIBA and the NBA of Canberra's role in producing the next generation of top players.
"They see these academies as such an important part of their whole development process, and certainly their view behind holding it here in Canberra is that it's producing a little earlier than they thought, with Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels and Tyrese Proctor on the way [to the NBA] next," Hunt said.
"Normally it takes quite a while to develop top-level international players - around 10 or 12 years to develop an Olympic player.
"[18-year-old] Tyrese for example has already been a Boomer and won the FIBA Asia Cup.
"It's accelerating the development of these players and I think the NBA see that's an example of the product that comes out of this holistic development here at the AIS.
"Canberra has had a huge influence and its continuing that legacy."
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