Melbourne United's Chris Goulding in action Credit:Mick Connolly The Kings will take on the Utah Jazz on October 3 and Brisbane Bullets will play the Phoenix Suns. If the games are a success it will add to the NBL's push for the NBA to bring games to Australia, although there is still more work to to be done to convince teams to travel here. But, most importantly, it shows how far the NBL and Australian basketball has risen in the eyes of NBA bosses over the past two seasons NBA clubs annually face elite sides from Europe and other leading basketball nations and after 12 months of negotiations the NBL has won the right to join them.

NBL managing director Larry Kestelman, chief executive Jeremy Loeliger and their team made rebuilding the league's relationship with the NBA a top priority when they took charge in 2015 and they won many friends when they hosted a successful NBA Without Borders camp in Victoria last year. Since then they have built stronger connections with the Chinese Basketball Association and had a visible presence at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July where a number of NBL players, both locals and imports, performed well and several NBL coaches enjoyed visiting assistant roles with NBA clubs. Brisbane Bullets import Torrey Craig was signed by the Denver Nuggets to a "two-way" contract after the summer league that will see him switch between the NBA G League and Nuggets this season while several other recent NBL players are still in the running to sign with NBA sides. The Thunder are led by Westbrook and recently traded for all-star guard Paul George while New Zealand centre Steven Adams is also a key part of their roster. Adelaide 36ers import Terrance Ferguson was drafted by the Thunder in this year's NBA draft and is also expected to play as he starts his rookie NBA campaign.

Melbourne will be led by Rio Olympians Dave Andersen and Chris Goulding along with former NBA centre Josh Boone while their two other import positions are still to be filled with Melbourne believed to be chasing a point guard and small forward. The pre-season games will be the first match-ups between the two leagues since Perth Wildcats took on the Houston Rockets at the now defunct McDonalds Championship tournament in London in 1995. On that occasion the NBL champions fell 116-72 against Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and the NBA champion Rockets. This time the NBL clubs will be in-season when they travel to the US with Melbourne United expected to play their first game against Adelaide 36ers in Adelaide on October 5, then leave for the US soon after. They don't play their second game, again Adelaide in Adelaide, until October 14 which leaves a window to travel to Oklahoma City for the NBA clash.

The NBA season has been moved up to October 17 [US time] this year to help the US league reduce the number of back-to-back games so the NBL sides will likely face full-strength rosters. This is expected to see a reduction in the number of pre-season NBA games adding to the importance of the NBL clashes. The Thunder have announced a pre-season game against the Houston Rockets in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on October 3 but have yet to confirm the rest of their schedule. The NBA season schedule is also yet to be announced but usually arrives in early August.