News Corp Australia’s SuperCoach, the fantasy sports franchise, has announced it is partnering with the National Basketball League, the nation’s premier basketball league, to become the official fantasy game of the sport.
The NBL will join NRL, AFL and BBL in the expanded SuperCoach stable, which has been thrilling sports fans for almost 20 years with more than 450,000 registered players annually.
Fans will be able to play the fun, free fantasy game, SuperCoach NBL, enabling them to test their skills against their friends and other supporters. The NBL version will include all the features from SuperCoach Plus that players love, including team optimiser, trade assist and double weekly cash prizing, plus game features like trade boost. Registrations open in late August.
News Corp Australia’s head of fantasy sports Paul Zines, said he was thrilled to welcome NBL to the SuperCoach family.
“SuperCoach offers a unique platform for sports fans to connect, engage and share their passion for fantasy sports, and we’re thrilled to be able to partner with the NBL to extend our brand to millions of Australians who love their basketball,” Zines said.
Luke Travers, United, and Anzac Rissetto, Phoenix
NBL CEO David Stevenson said: “Our fans are at the forefront of everything we do, and moving our fantasy platform to SuperCoach will help deliver a better and enhanced experience. SuperCoach provides a great way for supporters to connect with the NBL and its players on a new and improved level.
“Coming off a record breaking season, the NBL is growing like never before, making it the perfect time to partner with SuperCoach and its large and passionate fan base.”
A massive 1.2 million Australians play basketball with the 2022-23 NBL season seeing the highest crowd attendance in almost 30 years.
SuperCoach NBL chief columnist will be star export Josh Giddey, who made such an impact playing NBL for the Adelaide 36ers as an 18-year-old in 2020-21 that he was catapulted into NBA superstardom as pick number six for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Aron Baynes and Nathan Sobey
Giddey said: “The NBL started as a stepping stone, as an alternative to College and now it’s proven to be a legitimate path; it’s getting a lot more recognition around the world, people are taking it very seriously, ratings are going up, it’s getting a lot more imports, so everything about the NBL is just getting better and better and I’m a big advocate for it.
“I’m pumped to be associated with SuperCoach NBL because I’m excited about anything that makes the game even more engaging for fans.”
Giddey will contribute a series of pre-season and in-season articles to supercoach.com.au, providing his predictions of players to watch and lifting the lid on his SuperCoach secrets.
The launch of SuperCoach NBL spearheads a stellar basketball season, with coverage of the FIBA Basketball World Cup by News Corp Australia’s award-winning editorial team, led by Matt Logue and Michael Randall, as well as the highly anticipated domestic season.
See also: News Corp Australia has launches KFC SuperCoach AFL