Welcome to the league!
The Jr. NBA League was created for 11-13 year old (Year 7 and Year 8) boys and girls to play basketball and represent one of the 30 NBA teams. The league is organised and operated by Basketball England in partnership with the NBA.
Our objective is to leverage the excitement of the NBA to inspire more children to get involved in basketball through a fun and positive experience with the sport. The league also aims to promote NBA values such as sportsmanship, teamwork, attitude, respect and healthy living through league games and other activities and events.
From being the first Jr. NBA league globally, 24 leagues now span all regions in England, including opportunities to play in leagues at years 7 and 8 in the East of England, East Midlands, North-West, North East, Yorkshire, London, South East, South West and the West Midlands. There are also dedicated girls leagues for years 7 and 8 in London.
With over 700 schools and more than 10,000 children involved each season - it one of the largest Jr. NBA league in the world!
Within each league, schools are drafted to one of the 30 NBA teams and split into six localised divisions across East and West Conferences - just like the NBA.
Each school plays eight regular season games in four triangular fixtures against the schools in their division.
At the end of the regular season, the top eight schools in each conference proceed to the playoffs for two knockout rounds, with the final four schools in each league playing in the Jr. NBA Finals to be crowned the league Champions and take home Championship Rings.
Each school will receive a Jr. NBA Basketball England kit of their NBA team, ready to represent their franchise!
the 2025/26 Jr. NBA Draft teams
GET INVOLVED
As one season wraps up, it’s time to look ahead — and we’re excited to announce that the Expression of Interest (EOI) window for the Jr. NBA 2025/26 season is now officially open!
This year, there are two separate EOI forms:
As always, the EOI lets us know you're interested in being part of the Jr. NBA league.
Submissions will be considered based on geography and available capacity as we group schools into six divisions of five cluster schools.
The EOI window is open until Monday 1st September 2025.
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We will always try our best to accommodate as many requests as possible, with returning schools who completed a high percentage of their fixtures and submitted waiver returns in 2024/25 being given priority in placements, where possible.
We aim to confirm team placements by Friday 26th September 2025. Thank you for your patience while we get everything set up behind the scenes.
If you know of local schools that would love to get involved, please do share this with them — especially if they’re new to the Jr. NBA!
The 2025/26 season will follow our usual format of seven rounds, including four regular season fixtures per school, followed by playoffs and finals.
After the energy and excitement of this year’s finals, we can’t wait to see what’s in store next season — and which schools will be drafted to represent each NBA franchise!
