Fierce rivals: The Sydney Kings will face the Melbourne Tigers in their NBL season opener.

Fierce rivals: The Sydney Kings will face the Melbourne Tigers in their NBL season opener. Photo: Dallas Kilponen



Sydney Kings will kick-start their 25th anniversary celebrations with an NBL opening round showdown against Melbourne Tigers on October 13.


AJ Ogilvy's Kings will host Mark Worthington's Tigers at the Sydney Entertainment Centre as the club begins its anniversary.


Reigning champions New Zealand Breakers will officially open the season in New Zealand on October 10 when they host Wollongong Hawks.


The Hawks won't play at home until round 3 when they host Townsville in Wollongong on October 27, the Hawks visit Adelaide in round 2.


Wollongong will face the Tigers twice within four days in late December, visiting Melbourne on December 27 then hosting the Tigers on New Year's Eve. The league's three regional cities, Wollongong, Cairns and Townsville will all host games on December 31.


The NBL will again be on free-to-air television with its television deal with Network Ten expected to be announced in the near future while online television channel NBL.TV is expected again show all matches live.


The NBL All-Star weekend has been scheduled for December 20-22 with the host city yet to be announced.


Eight teams will vie for places in the top four with the best-of-three semi-finals to start on March 28. The NBL grand final will again be a three-game series in mid April.