| 2021–22 NBL season | |
| League: | National Basketball League |
| Season: | 2021–22 |
| Games: | 140 |
| Duration: | 3 December 2021 – 11 May 2022 |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Tv: | Australia: New Zealand: Online: |
| Season Champs: | Melbourne United |
| Runners Up: | Tasmania JackJumpers |
| Semifinalists: | Melbourne United Illawarra Hawks |
| Regular Season: | Regular season |
| Regular Season Link: | 2021–22 NBL regular season |
| Finals: | Finals |
| Finals Link: | 2022 NBL Finals |
| Mvp Link: | NBL Most Valuable Player Award |
| Mvp N: | USA |
| Finals Mvp Link: | NBL Grand Final Most Valuable Player Award |
| Finals Mvp N: | USA |
| Epg N: | AUS |
| Epg: | 78% |
| Top Scorer Link: | List of National Basketball League (Australia) annual scoring leaders |
| Ppg N: | USA |
| Ppg: | 22.7 |
| Rpg N: | AUS |
| Rpg: | 9.8 |
| Apg N: | USA |
| Apg: | 6.1 |
| Biggest Home Win: | 42 points United 89–47 Kings (16 December 2021) |
| Biggest Away Win: | 33 points Breakers 60–93 Sixers (24 April 2022) |
| Highest Scoring: | 210 points Taipans 112–98 Bullets (23 April 2022) |
| Lowest Scoring: | 128 points JackJumpers 66–62 Breakers (5 March 2022) |
| Winning Streak: | 13 games Sydney Kings (6 February 2022 – 17 April) |
| Losing Streak: | 10 games New Zealand Breakers (14 March 2022 – 24 April) |
| Highest Attendance: | 16,149 – Qudos Bank Arena Kings vs JackJumpers (11 May 2022) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 1,477 – MyState Bank Arena Breakers vs JackJumpers (30 January 2022) |
| Attendance: | 684,715 |
| Average Attendance: | 4,998 |
| Seasonslist: | List of NBL seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | NBL |
| Prevseason Link: | 2020–21 NBL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2020–21 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2022–23 NBL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2022–23 |
| Updated: | 11 May 2022 |
The 2021–22 NBL season was the 44th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of ten teams contested the 2021–22 season, which commenced on 3 December 2021.[1] [2]
Australian broadcast rights to the season are held by ESPN in the first season of a new three-year deal. All games are available live on ESPN and the streaming platform Kayo Sports.[3] After signing onto the new three-year deal, Network 10 will broadcast two Sunday afternoon games on 10 Peach and 10 Play.[4] In New Zealand, Sky Sport continue as the official league broadcaster, with Dongqiudi, TAP Sports, M Plus, Astro, Fanseat, Spring Media, Live Now and YouTube broadcasting games internationally.[5]
Ten teams are competing in the 2021–22 season, with the Tasmania JackJumpers entering the league for their first season.[6]
See main article: List of 2021–22 NBL season transactions. Free agency negotiations were delayed until 28 June 2021, due to the late finish of the 2020–21 season which had been delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic.[7] [8] [9]
| Team | Role | 2020–21 season | 2021–22 season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide 36ers | Head coach | Conner Henry | C. J. Bruton |
| Brisbane Bullets | Head coach | Andrej Lemanis | James Duncan |
| Assistant coach | C. J. Bruton | Peter Crawford | |
| Cairns Taipans | Head coach | Mike Kelly | Adam Forde |
| Assistant coach | Jamie O'Loughlin | Sam Gruggen | |
| Brad Hill | Kerry Williams | ||
| New Zealand Breakers | Assistant coach | Rashid Al-Kaleem | N/A |
| Sydney Kings | Head coach | Adam Forde | Chase Buford |
| Assistant coach | James Duncan | Fleur McIntyre | |
| Sam Gruggen | N/A | ||
| Perth Wildcats | Head coach | Trevor Gleeson | Scott Morrison |
| Assistant coach | Bob Thornton | Keegan Crawford | |
| Jacob Chance | N/A | ||
| Tasmania JackJumpers | Head coach | N/A | Scott Roth |
| Assistant coach | N/A | Jacob Chance | |
| Mark Radford | |||
| Jack Fleming |
See main article: 2021 NBL pre-season.
The pre-season consisted of warm-up games leading up to the start of the regular season, with the NBL Blitz tournament running during this period. The NBL Blitz ran from 13 to 28 November with all ten teams competing, and was hosted throughout Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.[10] [11]
See main article: 2021–22 NBL regular season.
The regular season began on 3 December 2021.[12] [13] [14] It consisted of 140 games spread across 21 rounds, with the final game being played on 24 April 2022.[15]
On 24 April 2022, Melbourne United claimed their 6th regular season championship.[16] [17]
The NBL tie-breaker system as outlined in the NBL Rules and Regulations states that in the case of an identical win–loss record, the overall points percentage will determine order of seeding.
See main article: 2022 NBL Finals.
The 2022 NBL Finals were played in April and May 2022, consisting of two best-of-three semi-final series and a best-of-five Grand Final series. In the semi-finals, the higher seed hosted the first and third games. In the Grand Final, the higher seed hosts the first, third and fifth games.[18] [19]
