Earlier this month, FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, announced an expanded field of 38 national teams to partake in the second edition of the FIBA Esports Open, set to take place over three weekends with six regional conferences.
Basketball Australia has committed to embark on another chapter with FIBA in this second Esports Open competition, after claiming the Oceania Conference Championship title in the inaugural competition played from June 19 – 21, 2020.
Australia was one of the original 17 countries to participate and continue to play a part in the expanding world of FIBA’s international competitive Esports.
The Australian roster for this weekend’s event (14 – 15 November), consists of five returning players who participated in the original competition: Jonte Burns, Cooper Cameron, Max Ellwood, Benjamin Klobas, Cameron Sloper and Kyle Vassalloo.
The Australian roster including PlayStation Network/Player Name (PSN) and primary playing position are as below:
| PSN Name | Full Name | Primary Position |
| AnkleTV | Jonte Burns | Small Forward |
| CQOPR | Cooper Cameron | Shooting Guard |
| Squoogs | Max Ellwood | Centre |
| Waurk | Benjamin Klobas | Point Guard |
| DunkGod | Cameron Sloper | Power Forward |
| Vassalloo | Kyle Vassalloo | Shooting Guard |
Conferences have been divided according to geographical conditions and server distributions, seeing Australia compete in the South East Asia Conference against Indonesia and Philippines. Each nation will go head to head against one another three times before the top two teams contest in a three-game series for the champion title. The games will be played remotely on the Playstation 4 game, NBA 2K21, using the Pro-AM mode.
All games will be streamed by FIBA live with commentary in English. YouTube, Twitch and Facebook are the available viewer platforms.
Australia’s Esports schedule below:
Saturday 14 November
8.30pm (AEDT) vs Philippines
9.00pm (AEDT) vs Indonesia
10:20pm (AEDT) vs Philippines
10:50pm (AEDT) vs Indonesia
Sunday 15 November
9.00pm (AEDT) vs Indonesia Game 3
9.30pm (AEDT) vs Philippines Game 3
Grand finals (3 game series) 10.20pm (AEDT) – 11:50pm
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.