Luke Jackson is nothing new when it comes to basketball era moving to football. You could actually make a full football team on ex VIC players playing AFL.

There has been leakage for years due to simple economics.
If you can make double playing AFL, why would you not?

If basketball wants to keep more of its junior stars it needs to keep doing what it's already doing... continue the commercialisation of the game increasing revenue streams.

They flow onto player payments and further improve the standard of play. Once players can consistently make $500K+ in the NBL, fewer players will switch codes. We might even get some who come back.

Luke Jackson was rated 2nd on efficiency of all players and averaged a double double at the U17 WC

Travers, Wani and Tamuri Wigness also on that team

https://www.proballers.com/basketball/league/380/u17-world-cup/2018/leaders/full-list/eff

Lol I love how this is posted as though the issue has only just started. "The AFL Problem" has existed since the 90s and will for as long as the AFL is the biggest game in town.

I agree with previous posts about tbhe commercialization of the game. Some seem to be of tbhe belief that less imports and next stars and more spots in the NBL will lead to more retention - absolutely NOT true. To keep the Luke Jacksons of the world you need to offer more than the 60-80K a year that an NBL bench player can get, and you only do that by putting more eyeballs on the league, not by having more spots for second-rate Australian players. It's never been a problem of vacancies, it's a problem of economics.

The NBL is going the right direction in creating a league where the top Aussies looking to break into the NBA or go to the next level will come play here, but we're still a long way from retaining those kids that have potential in both games but are sitting on the fence. Kids who believe they'll make the NBA will probably stick with basketball. Kids like Greenwood who find they aren't on that level, and will struggle to make an Olympic team even, will choose football for the pay cheque and the glory of an AFL Grand Final. It's not in the least surprising that it sits this way. Little we can do about it in the short term. But long term as the league hopefully becomes more financially viable we should be able to steal some back

What about the grass roots drain. Especially kids being enticed to clubs get recruited over become disillusioned and go to footy... ever tine kids leave sport for football clubs should ask themselves why .
Basketball should be the destination sport especially in Olympic years world cup years with nba exposure Benny Simmons giddey patty mills even bogut and cambage fued should be growth sport.... why isn't it ...
World's greatest athletes jordan LeBron Kobe bird gaze luka Derek Randall
No braina -

Aussies in the NBA ~10
AUssies in Europe ~10 with average salary maybe 300k
Aussies in NBL ~50 with average salary maybe 150k

Aussies in AFL ~600 with average salary 300 - 350k.

Rough numbers but you get my point

Basketball is one of the top participation sports in the world. But very few earn great money relative to the huge numbers of players esp out of the US.

The simple reality in Australia is that there are exponentially more opportunities in footy than in basketball. Every year around 100 boys get taken in the afl draft. If you think about the basketball pathway, what opportunities are there for the top 100 18yos every year? Maybe a handful go to college, maybe another handful get a DP spot in the NBL. It is what it is, and in the girls it is probably not quite as weighted in favour of footy. But where we can do better is embracing kids that play footy instead of forcing basketball to take priority all the time. In footy, they view kids playing basketball as a huge positive, but in basketball if a kid plays footy as well, they get the constant pressure of someone asking them what their priority is, rather than recognizing that footy can help basketballers too.

Has Mate Colina fully given up on basketball?
Have Richmond dropped him?
He's listed on Hawaii’s 2021/22 roster.

It's definitely a tough decision for many kids but many make the wrong choice. Michael Luxford is a good example and he really should have stuck with basketball.
If he had gone to college, he would have developed and come back as an NBL player for sure. Instead, he went to Geelong (AFL) and didn’t make it in either sport.

Hard to blame them going to footy / all the drugs and women you want, get away with blue murder, and get treated like a GOD.

It's an individual decision

If you think you're a good chance of making NBA, or Europe or being a top NBL player than basketball's probably the best decision.


But if you're anybody else and looking mid-tier NBL at best but a genuine shot at AFL, then the choice is easy.

Exposure to AFL does harden up our basketballers and may foster a more physically robust playing style. I remember the time with Simmons in his second season with the 76ers setting a screen and became aware that a larger opponent was deliberately running straight at him. It was just the latest stunt this opponent pulled to intimidate Simmons. Instinctively the skinny Simmons turned his shoulder and collected this guy in a classic hip and shoulder shirt front - stopped this huge player dead in his tracks, crumbled to the floor. And of course there is Dellys frequent trips to the floor with hard ball gets, sometimes taking out an opponents feet. Pretty normal stuff in AFL. US commentators got it completely wrong, admonishing Delly's robust play as dangerous saying "Delly played Rugby back in Australia"

I think the perception of this may be biased for a couple of reasons
Opportunities for representative AFL unlimited to the Under 16s under 18s nationals. Where are the kid that is also coming today at basketball could easily play internationally. It's when that young player makes a choice of AFL over basketball, we see them as being lost to basketball, when in reality AFL my always been a more realistic option for them.

Similarly, basketball offers unique opportunity for even mediocre players to go and play it some bumfuk university in America, where they can spend 4 years smoking pot and chasing girls. That's an attractive proposition for many young guys, so again we see them as basketball players first and foremost but many may still always have a preference for a career in AFL

Lastly, there is the ridiculous AFL category b system, that allows players to use another sport such as basketball, to completely circumvent the AFLdraft and list restrictions.