NBA eyes Singapore as base to reach out to Southeast Asia

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The world's top basketball property, the NBA (National Basketball Association), is planning to establish a permanent base in Singapore to reach out to the more than half-a-billion people in South-east Asia to develop the sport.

The NBA operates from a regional headquarters in Hong Kong, with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, South Korea and Mumbai, but NBA Asia senior vice-president and managing director Scott Levy sees Singapore as an ideal base to reach the markets surrounding it.

As part of an aggressive multi-pronged campaign to help basketball grow, executives of NBA have also been in talks with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to support the country's Vision 2030 for sports.

TODAY understands this includes the Singapore launch of an annual NBA-organised 3-on-3 tournament later this year for local teams, with top NBA stars in attendance.

It is a step up from the one-off Basketball Without Borders Asia camp here in 2010 that was conducted by such big names as Trevor Ariza, Al Horford, Taj Gibson, Francisco Garcia and Corey Brewer.

While the NBA has been conducting events in Asia for two decades, its aggressive push into South-east Asia only started in 2010.

Last year, it launched the 3-on-3 tournament in Thailand and the Philippines, and Levy wants to get more countries on board to pave the way for a regional championship in 2013.

With governments in the region increasingly supporting sport, Levy said the time is right for NBA to do more to promote basketball.

He said the Lion City offers opportunities for all of the brand's business lines and could potentially host a centre for it as well as stores, restaurants and bigger NBA events.

"We need people on the ground and it is in our business plan to have an office at some point in Singapore from where we can roll out to other regions," Levy said.

"Given the infrastructure, the facilities, ease of transport, the airport and the airline, it is a city where you can definitely demonstrate your product.

"If we have to bring talent to Singapore, there is a tremendous amount on offer here like the Sports Hub and state-of-the-art facilities for every major sport that allow us to show our event or property the way we want to."