Luke Paul — Australia’s top 2009-born NBA prospect — has signed a multi-year deal with the NBL‘s Next Stars program, he told ESPN.
The 6’6 point guard out of Western Australia will join a yet-to-be-selected team ahead of the 2026-27 NBL season, where he’s set to spend multiple years before becoming eligible for the 2028 NBA Draft.
“It’s a proven pathway to get to the NBA,” Paul told ESPN.
“I don’t think it was a hard decision… I know it’s going to be a good one for me.
“Guys like Josh Giddey and LaMelo Ball have come through the pathway. The college landscape has changed so much with NIL money and everything like that; [I’m] trusting the people in my circle.”
NBL Next Stars signing, Luke Paul. Paul Kane/Getty Images for NBL
Paul is a unique circumstance of a prospect who’s signed with the Next Stars program without committing to a team. The 16-year-old, along with his representation and the NBL, plan to make a decision once there’s more clarity on player and coaching personnel decisions across the league.
“I want to be pushed every day,” Paul said, when asked what he’s looking for in a team.
“I want to go into a program where I know I’m going to get better. I want to be held accountable for my mistakes, but I also want to know that they’ve got trust that I can fix my mistakes and push through them.
“And… that they believe in me to run a team.”
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Paul broke out as a potential NBA prospect on the back of his performance at the 2025 FIBA U16 Asia Cup, where he led Australia to a gold medal. He averaged 14.8 points 7.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game over the tournament, including a near triple-double – 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists – in the final against China.
Paul was named the tournament’s MVP, and immediately became a target for the Next Stars program, which has produced multiple NBA draft picks, including Ball, Giddey, Alex Sarr, Ousmane Dieng, RJ Hampton, Rayan Rupert, AJ Johnson, Bobi Klintman, Ariel Hukporti, Rocco Zikarsky, and Alex Toohey.
“Luke is a fantastic young talent who has a really bright future in the game,” Next Stars General Manager of Recruitment, Liam Santamaria, said.
“He possesses great positional size and plays with elite skill, smarts and feel which I believe will translate well to the professional level. He’s also a wonderful young man from a great family and it’s super exciting that he has chosen the Next Stars program as the next step in his basketball journey.
“We are thrilled to support Luke in his development and look forward to working closely with him, his family and his agent, Daniel Moldovan, to establish the NBL team he will join.”
The youngest athlete to ever join the Next Stars program, Paul is a big point guard with a high-IQ and elite feel, who’s demonstrated a high-level passing game over his junior career in Australia.
“I’m a long, athletic guard, bigger than most point guards,” Paul said.
“I like to push the ball, get downhill; make my teammates’ lives easier. Find them, know where they want the ball, make it easier for them.
“I’ve been around bigger bodies and professionals for two years now, and I started at such a young age against professional guys. I think the physicality’s gonna be so much different, but the speed of the game, I think I can handle. For a while now, I’ve been playing at quite a high level, so I think stepping into a professional league, I can definitely take it on.”
Paul is a product of the Willetton Tigers, and spent time with the Perth Wildcats Academy program. He’s currently a scholarship holder at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Canberra, where he’ll remain for the next six months before joining an NBL team.
Paul will represent Western Australia Metro at the under-18 National Championships in April, before an expectation of a primary role on the Australian team for the 2026 FIBA under-17 World Cup in Turkey.
