The Australian Basketball Association’s (ABA) roots can be traced back as far as 1965, when just eight clubs competed in the South Eastern Conference (SEC). The SEC continued until 1971 when the Australian Club Championships gained pre-eminence. 

In 1981, the SEC was reborn as the South Eastern Basketball League (SEBL) when the Australian Club Championships ceased to operate due to the rise of Australia’s first truly national competition, the now professional National Basketball League.

The SEBL was divided into a South and East Conference format in 1986; the same year Queensland’s State Basketball League was founded. 

In 1994 the bodies merged to create the current North, South and East Conference concept of the National Continental Basketball Association.  

1998 saw further expansion with the inclusion of a Central Conference from South Australia conducting competitions for both men and women. In that same year, the switch of NBL and WNBL seasons to Summer enabled the ABA to offer professional players a showcase for their skills during the Winter months.

2000 saw the addition of Big V from Victoria and in 2001 the Waratah Conference from New South Wales was included for the first time.

Since 2002, the champions of each of the five leagues and a number of wildcard entries competed at the inaugural Australian Basketball Club Champions Finals. This addition of a truly national ABA final series marked the dawn of a new era of national basketball competition in Australia.

Since 1965 the ABA has played an integral part in the development of Australian basketball with hundreds of past and present WNBL and NBL players honing their skills against world-class opposition. Many NBL and WNBL clubs have also benefited from their involvement in ABA competition, including the Melbourne Tigers who competed in the SEBL before joining the NBL. 

Today the ABA incorporates five leagues – the SEABL, Big V, QABL, Central and Waratah leagues. With the support of Basketball Australia, the competition continues to build upon the successful structure created by the well-respected Continental Basketball Association.  The end result is a culmination of over 30 years of evolution, during which time the ABA has mushroomed from eight teams in south east of Australia to a competition that involves 135 men’s and women’s teams based in six states and territories. 

The ABA is representative of the huge number of junior-based associations across the country and is the endorsed national development league of the sport’s peak body, Basketball Australia.