The National Basketball Association (NBA) will kick off the NBA Jam Bangalore leg, part of the largest 3-on-3 inter-collegiate basketball tournament in India, on September 14-15 at the Sree Kanteerava stadium.

Over 100 teams and 450 players from some of Bangalore’s leading colleges including Jain University, Christ College and St Joseph’s will compete across two age categories — 16-18 years and 19-23.

A women’s division has been incorporated for the first time this year. The Bangalore winners will compete in the National finals in Mumbai on September 29, where the highlight will be the presence of NBA stars Horace Grant, Ron Harper and Peja Stojakovic, who have collectively won 10 NBA Championships.

Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA) President and Karnataka State Basketball Association secretary K Govindraj said a National Basketball League (NBL) on the franchise format was being planned from next year.

“From next year we’ll try to put a format in place and hopefully get the NBL started in at least four cities,’’ he said.

On the NBA Jam 3x3 tournament, Govindraj felt the event will catch on owing to its fast-paced nature. 

“It is a quick game so I feel it will catch up quickly like the IPL and IBL,’’ he said.
Yannick Colaco, MD, NBA India, stated that the idea of the event was to popularise the game at the grassroots level.

“The focus is one helping the sport grow and that is the reason we are having the NBA Jam in four cities this year (Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai besides Bangalore)  and we’ll look to expand as well,’’ he added.Registrations for the Bangalore leg will start at 7.30 am on Saturday.