Jr. NBA shifts focus to under-16s, with year-round play and better coaching key to developing Indian talent

Image credit: Special Editing When some of India’s top school basketball talents returned from the Rising Stars Invitational in Singapore earlier this year, Sunny Malik asked them what they learned from the tournament. Their answer was straightforward. They struggled to keep pace as the game wore on and their stamina and endurance needed work.“They said the level of competition showed us that we need to improve a lot more. We ended up lacking stamina and endurance. That’s what the kids told me,” NBA India.com Country Head Malik said on the sidelines of the ACG Jr. NBA 3v3 National Tournament last week in Delhi.“Imagine the kind of learning they went through that one game when they said we were outscoring a lot in the third quarter and we were outscoring in the fourth quarter.”The players were already looking forward to the next year. They told Malik that they would work on these weaknesses before returning to Singapore.“They said if we’re the best team in India next year and we go to RSI next year, we assure you we’ll go to the semi-finals at least. Because we’re going to work on our stamina, we’re going to work on our endurance and we’re going to work on the weaknesses that we’ve seen throughout the program,” he said.“That’s what we want kids to know.”Malik recalled that experience when discussing the ACG Jr. Nationals. NBA 3v3 where teams from schools with established basketball programs competed alongside teams from schools without the same infrastructure.The 2026 edition moved from the under-14 category to the under-16 category. The 10-city competition began in September and will culminate in a national final in December.Delhi saw 270 team registrations across 118 schools: 193 boys’ teams and 77 girls’ teams.

The girls and boys in action during the Jr NBA 3×3 National Tournament in Delhi (Image credit: Special Arrangements)

For Malik, the tournament is an opportunity for players to discover the level of competition outside of their own schools and assess what it takes to keep up.“The main goal is the overall exposure and learning they can get through this program, playing against the best teams coming from the city or the outskirts of this city,” he said.

Better strategy than physical prowess

During the girls match in Delhi, the difference in placement was evident. In a half-court format with 12 seconds to go, one team struggled to find their positions while the other took advantage of gaps. Responding to the observation, Malik said the difference is due to strategy rather than size.“Somewhere these kids play better because they’re not bigger than their opposition; they (the opposition) play better because their strategy is better,” Malik said.He sees the contrast between schools that have a structured basketball program and schools where kids learn mostly through experience. “And that’s where I see the difference between a school that has a basketball program and a school that doesn’t have a basketball program because, you know, then they run ad hoc and they want to work not through strategy but through their individual learning,” he said.“Whereas a school with a basketball program will teach you about that positioning, how you’re going to lose, how you’re going to make sure you’re able to score a bucket in the time you have.”The technical side of the game is only one part of what young players need to develop. Malik said the Singapore experience also brought the physical and mental demands of international competition into focus.

NBA India Country Manager Sunny Malik (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)

“Personally, seeing a lot of these teams play in RSI, I felt the one thing a lot of our teams need to work on is endurance, building endurance, mental conditioning,” he said.“Playing against the best in the world requires that toughness, that persistence, that you continue to be at your peak for four quarters.”

Malík wants more investment in coaches

The Singapore experience also sharpened Malik’s view of what requires attention from the competition. He believes that coaching development is one area of ​​Indian sports that still needs more investment.“Coach development is one area that probably, and this is my personal opinion, is sometimes overlooked,” he said. “But that’s a very, very important part of the overall evolution of the ecosystem.”“If you don’t invest in coaches, if you don’t support coaches with world-class training levels, how do those coaches produce world-class talent? So investing in coaching, the infra-coaching ecosystem, is an important part that every organization should invest in sports. That’s the only way you can produce world-class athletes.”Jr. Program The NBA has been running in India since 2013 and has reached over 15 million youth and 15,000 physical education instructors in 35 cities.

Natalia Andre (C) at the ACG Jr. National Tournament. NBA 3v3 in Ahmedabad (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)

International coaches, including Natalie André, have been involved in coaching clinics and development work across the region. But Malik acknowledged the limits of the program, which moves between cities within days.“That’s challenging. If it’s a five-day program in a city, the best you can do is train some trainers,” he said.“The best thing you can do is if you really see some talent, you can sit down with them, spend some time and explain to them where they are lacking, so that they learn to learn from coaches like Natalia, who comes from the outside world and sees the best kids playing in APAC or around the world.”The work with the coaches should continue even after the departure of the tournament teams. Malik said the program used coaching clinics to introduce local instructors to the curriculum and standards that international coaches follow.“Through the global coaches that we have, we train clinics with them and try to tell them what the right level of coaching is, what kind of curriculum we follow,” he said.He put the onus on those coaches to keep kids in the game once the tournament window closes. “The goal is that participation doesn’t stop after the program ends,” Malik said.“So if it’s a four-month program, you don’t want kids to play just four months. You want them to play a full year. And that’s why these coaches have to play an important role in equipping them, welding the lessons they’ve learned in this competition and then getting better at it.”Malik said the coaching ecosystem has improved but still needs support and investment if India is to produce world-class players.

More girls play; the league question remains

The numbers in Delhi also reflect a broader feature of the Jr. program. NBA: girls participation. Malik said some city-level competitions have seen participation of girls around 40-45%, a figure he finds encouraging.“Personally, I don’t see many sports where the participation of girls is up to 45% in a city-level competition,” he said.“So with girls participating at 40-45%, we’re very encouraged that you’re also bringing girls into the mainstream of sports through this program. And that’s one of the big goals we have.”

ACG Jr. NBA 2026 Delhi Leg U16 Girls All Star Team (Image Credit: Special Arrangement)

The national finals of the tournament are the next step for teams that progress through the city competitions. After holding the finals in Delhi in the previous two years, the organizers intend to hold this year’s edition in Chennai.Malik said the change of venue would give players the experience of competing in a different city and arena. “Because if these kids have to play nationally, they’re going to be, you know, traveling all over the country. You don’t want to just stay in one place,” he said.“Likewise, having the ACG Junior NBA Finals in different cities would always, you know, be helpful for these kids who get to the Finals. They get more exposure in a different city, different environment, different arena, different exposure.”The top two boys’ teams and top two girls’ teams from each city, along with selected all-star teams, qualify for the finals in December.Whether the competition can help players move toward professional basketball is a separate question. The proposed Indian Basketball League could provide another platform. For Malik, though, the process of identifying talent would become clearer as plans began to take shape.“I think anything that will help basketball in the country, the NBA will always be the first to support that initiative. We would like to support any initiative that will bring kids the path they are looking at,” he said.“Giving kids an avenue, getting kids the right platform to showcase their talent is a great initiative. We definitely support anything that helps basketball in the country.”He also wants the sport to attract a wider audience. “As a category, it’s important for basketball to become prime time. As a category, it’s important for people to watch, to play, for people to participate. We support any initiative that helps basketball.”When asked if the tournament’s under-16 players could be promoted to the proposed league, Malik said he was not privy to its structure or the plans of its coaches and scouts.

DeMarcus Cousins ​​with players from the Indian Basketball League (Image credit: Special Arrangements)

However, he pointed to an existing partnership between ACG and the Jr. program. NBA and said players who performed well could come to the attention of talent scouts.“Some of these talents that would thrive at these levels would automatically become part of a larger talent pool that would be visible to everyone,” he said.The under-16 tournament offers a competitive platform, but what happens after December will depend in part on whether the players continue to train and compete. Malik’s expectation is clear: the four-month program shouldn’t be the only time they play.