The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced that an NBA Academy Asia Development Camp will be held in Singapore for the first time from 8 – 11 May at the OCBC Arena at Singapore Sports Hub. The four-day elite basketball development camp, held in collaboration with Sport Singapore (SportSG), will bring together 30 of the top male youth basketball players from countries in Asia to develop and compete alongside their peers.
The camp will be led by NBA Global Academy Technical Director Marty Clarke and NBA Academy India Technical Director Scott Flemming, along with staff from the NBA Academies in Australia and India. Prospects will take part in skill development, anthropometric and athletic testing, exhibition games, and off-court activities that promote cultural exchange. The top performing prospects from the camp will have the opportunity to attend future NBA basketball development camps, showcases and programs.
A team comprising prospects from NBA Academy India, an elite basketball training in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), will travel to Singapore for a short-term basketball development program that will include exhibition games against NBA Academy Asia Development Camp participants and the Singapore Under-18 Men’s National Team.
“The first NBA Academy Asia Development Camp in Singapore will provide top prospects from various countries with the opportunity to learn from coaches with professional, collegiate and international coaching experience and put their skills to the test against their peers from across the region,” said NBA Associate Vice President and Head of Elite Basketball Chris Ebersole. “This camp is part of our broader basketball development efforts in Asia, where basketball talent is emerging at all levels.”
In 2022, the NBA expanded its presence in Asia-Pacific by opening an office in Singapore. The Singapore office joins the league’s Manila and Mumbai offices in reporting into NBA Asia Managing Director Ramez Sheikh in Hong Kong and builds on the league’s existing efforts in the region, which include live game distribution, youth development programming, interactive fan events, merchandise sales and social responsibility efforts.
NBA Academy Asia Development Camp builds on the existing grassroots and elite basketball development efforts across Asia, including the Jr. NBA, NBA Basketball School, Basketball Without Borders (BWB) and NBA Academy. Jr. NBA, the league’s global youth basketball participation program for boys and girls, has reached more than 40 million kids and coaches in Asia since 2007.
At the elite level, BWB, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program, has been held in Asia 12 times. The NBA Academy program, which is operated in conjunction with local organizations in Australia (NBA Global Academy), India (NBA Academy India), Mexico (NBA Academy Latin America) and Senegal (NBA Academy Africa), has seen 26 prospects from Asia commit to or go on to attend NCAA Division I schools, including Derrick Michael Xzavierro (Indonesia; NBA Global Academy), who became the first Indonesian player to receive an NCAA Division I scholarship when he signed with Grand Canyon University, Amaan Sandhu (India; NBA Academy India) who became the first Indian-born male player to receive an NCAA Division I scholarship when he signed with Monmouth University and Hyunjung Lee (South Korea; NBA Global Academy), who was named to the First-Team All-Atlantic 10 following his junior season at Davidson College before signing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League.