2025–26 NBL season

2025–26 NBL season
Logo of the league sponsored by Hungry Jack's
League	National Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	18 September 2025 – 18 February 2026 March 2026 (Play-in tournament) March 2026 (Semifinals) March – April 2026 (Finals)
Games	165
Teams	10
TV partner(s)	ESPN/Foxtel, Network 10/10 Drama, Sky Sport
Streaming partner(s)	Disney+, Kayo Sports, 10, NBL TV, Sky Sport Now
Regular season
NBL Ignite Cup
Finals

The 2025–26 NBL season will be the 48th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of ten teams will contest the 2025–26 season.

As Australia and New Zealand will participate in 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification, the league will take a break during the FIBA international windows of 24 November to 2 December 2025 and 23 February to 3 March 2026.^[1]

All ten teams from the 2024–25 NBL season will continue on in 2025–26.^[1]

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Adelaide 36ers	Adelaide	Adelaide Entertainment Centre	11,300
Brisbane Bullets	Brisbane	Brisbane Entertainment Centre	10,500
Cairns Taipans	Cairns	Cairns Convention Centre	5,300
Illawarra Hawks	Wollongong	Wollongong Entertainment Centre	6,000
Melbourne United	Melbourne	John Cain Arena	10,175
New Zealand Breakers	Auckland	Spark Arena	9,740
Perth Wildcats	Perth	Perth Arena	14,800
S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	Melbourne	John Cain Arena	10,175
		State Basketball Centre	3,422
Sydney Kings	Sydney	Sydney SuperDome	18,200
Tasmania JackJumpers	Hobart	Derwent Entertainment Centre	4,340
	Launceston	Silverdome	3,255

Team	Coach	Captain	Main sponsor	Kit manufacturer
Adelaide 36ers	Mike Wells	Bryce Cotton Isaac Humphries Dejan Vasiljevic	Mega Rewards	Champion
Brisbane Bullets	Stu Lash	Mitch Norton	TBC
Cairns Taipans	Adam Forde	Marcus Lee Admiral Schofield	Kenfrost Homes
Illawarra Hawks	Justin Tatum	Sam Froling Tyler Harvey	Multi Civil and Rail
Melbourne United	Dean Vickerman	Chris Goulding	Engie
New Zealand Breakers	Petteri Koponen	Parker Jackson-Cartwright	Bank of New Zealand
Perth Wildcats	John Rillie	Jesse Wagstaff	Mate Internet Mobile
S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	Josh King	Jordan Hunter Nathan Sobey	Mountain Goat Beer
Sydney Kings	Brian Goorjian	Matthew Dellavedova	Harvey Norman
Tasmania JackJumpers	Scott Roth	Will Magnay	Spirit of Tasmania

Free agency began on 4 April 2025.^[2][3]

Head coaching transactions

Team	2024–25 season	2025–26 season
Off-season
Brisbane Bullets	Justin Schueller[4]	Stu Lash[5]
Cairns Taipans	Adam Forde[6]
New Zealand Breakers	Petteri Koponen[7]
In-season

The pre-season games began on 28 June to 5 October 2025.

The pre-season also features Melbourne United, S.E. Melbourne Phoenix to host games between NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, this will be the seventh NBLxNBA tour.^[8][9]

The 2025 NBL Blitz will run from 27 to 31 August 2025 with games being played at the AIS Arena, Canberra.^[10][11]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PP	BP	Pts
1	New Zealand Breakers (C)	2	2	0	203	176	115.3	7	13
2	Tasmania JackJumpers	2	2	0	194	190	102.1	3	9
3	Adelaide 36ers	2	1	1	199	180	110.6	5.5	8.5
4	Melbourne United	2	1	1	176	144	122.2	5	8
5	S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	2	1	1	203	190	106.8	4	7
6	Perth Wildcats	2	1	1	176	178	98.9	4	7
7	Brisbane Bullets	2	1	1	160	190	84.2	4	7
8	Illawarra Hawks	2	1	1	183	196	93.4	2.5	5.5
9	Cairns Taipans	2	0	2	170	191	89.0	3	3
10	Sydney Kings	2	0	2	173	202	85.6	2	2

The regular season will begin on 18 September 2025.^[1] It will consist of 165 games (33 games each) spread across 22 rounds, with the final game being played on 20 February 2026.^[12]

The NBL introduced the new NBL Ignite Cup tournament for the 2025–26 season, with all games except the championship final counting towards the regular-season standings.^[13][14]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand Breakers	3	3	0	325	262	+63	9	18	Ignite Cup final
2	Perth Wildcats	3	2	1	298	272	+26	7	13
3	Tasmania JackJumpers	3	2	1	259	246	+13	6.5	12.5
4	Adelaide 36ers	2	1	1	190	182	+8	5	8
5	Brisbane Bullets	2	1	1	194	206	−12	5	8
6	Illawarra Hawks	3	1	2	280	307	−27	5	8
7	Sydney Kings	4	1	3	350	381	−31	5	8
8	Melbourne United	2	1	1	200	200	0	4	7
9	S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	1	0	1	81	89	−8	1.5	1.5
10	Cairns Taipans	1	0	1	78	110	−32	0	0

Pos	2025–26 NBL season
	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	PF	PA	PP
1	Adelaide 36ers	18	14	4	77.78%	4–1	L1	8–2	6–2	1678	1564	107.29%
2	Melbourne United	20	14	6	70.00%	1–4	W1	8–2	6–4	1918	1776	108.00%
3	S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	18	12	6	66.67%	3–2	W2	6–3	6–3	1725	1593	108.29%
4	Sydney Kings	17	10	7	58.82%	3–2	W3	4–3	6–4	1571	1469	106.94%
5	Perth Wildcats	19	10	9	52.63%	2–3	L1	4–6	6–3	1677	1640	102.26%
6	Tasmania JackJumpers	18	8	10	44.44%	3–2	W2	2–6	6–4	1541	1550	99.42%
7	New Zealand Breakers	18	7	11	38.89%	3–2	L1	4–5	3–6	1598	1590	100.50%
8	Illawarra Hawks	17	6	11	35.29%	2–3	L1	4–5	2–6	1519	1648	92.17%
9	Brisbane Bullets	18	5	13	27.78%	0–5	L6	1–7	4–6	1543	1718	89.81%
10	Cairns Taipans	17	4	13	23.53%	1–4	L1	1–9	3–4	1382	1604	86.16%

Updated to match(es) played on 18 December 2025. Source: NBL.com.au

The NBL tie-breaker system as outlined in the NBL Rules and Regulations states that in the case of an identical win–loss record, the overall points percentage will determine order of seeding.

	Leader and qualification to semifinals
	Qualification to semifinals
	Qualification to play-in
	Last place

The 2026 NBL Finals will be played in March and April 2026, consisting of three play-in games, two best-of-three semifinal series and the best-of-five NBL Championship series. In the semifinals, the higher seed hosts the first and third games. In the Grand Final, the higher seed hosts the first, third and fifth games.

The top two seeds in the regular season will automatically qualify to the semifinals. Teams ranked three to six will compete in the play-in tournament. The third seed will play the fourth seed for third spot and the loser will play the winner of fifth or sixth for the fourth spot.

• Loggins-Bruton Cup: New Zealand Breakers^[15]
• Most Valuable Player (Ray Borner Medal): Izaiah Brockington (New Zealand Breakers)^[16]

• Most Valuable Player (Andrew Gaze Trophy):
• Next Generation Award:
• Best Defensive Player (Damian Martin Trophy):
• Best Sixth Man:
• Most Improved Player:
• Fans MVP:
• Coach of the Year (Lindsay Gaze Trophy):
• Executive of the Year:
• Referee of the Year:
• GameTime by Kmart: Majok Deng
• Three-Pointer of the Year:
• All-NBL First Team:
• All-NBL Second Team:

• Grand Final Series MVP (Larry Sengstock Medal):
• NBL Champions:

Team	Competition	Progress	Result	W–L
Illawarra Hawks	Intercontinental Cup	Group stage	Loss vs. Flamengo	1–2
			Loss vs. NBA G League United
		Fifth place	Win vs. Utsunomiya Brex

• As reigning NBL champions, the Hawks will compete in the 2025 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, becoming the second team from Oceania to play in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.^[17]

• Official website
• Official NBL All-Time Stats at NBL Insider