Basketball: NBA commissioner open to having game in Australia

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a press conference prior to the NBA match between Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets at the O2 Arena. Photo / Getty Images

A regular season NBA game might be too great an ask, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has flagged the possibility of the league bringing a pre-season game to Australia in the near future.

With an ever-growing Australian contingent in the NBA - including No.1 draft picks Andrew Bogut and Ben Simmons - Silver believes it is a case of when and not if the NBA will bring a game to Australian shores.

"Yes I could see us returning for a pre-season game," Silver said before Thursday's game between Indiana and Denver at London's O2 Arena. "It's a fantastic market and it's a market our players enjoy travelling to.

"Obviously it's a bit of distance from the United States but we go to China for the pre-season so I think it's just a question of working out the appropriate business arrangement, but it's something we are looking to do."

While Australia is on the agenda for a pre-season game, it seems the Middle East is next in line for a regular season game.

"We have an enormous following in the Middle East but we're not doing enough," Silver said.

"In fact we used the few days we were here in London for several meetings with Middle Eastern authorities, whether they be sports bureaus, broadcasters or other interested parties.

"Whether those things (we do) be junior NBA to hosting games, it's an area of the world where we should be doing more."

Silver revealed he was a big fan of Australian basketball and lauded the nation's ability to produce high-quality players despite a limited population.

"We see in those markets where the best young talents are brought together at a young age, those markets are producing the best young players," he said.

"Markets like, Australia, markets like Serbia, have great systems and are relatively small markets compared to others - that quite frankly have no NBA players right now - we're looking at that model (in terms of player development).

"They do a fantastic job in Australia and Serbia creating top notch payers and we're trying to replicate that."