Dubai Basketball: Roster, fixtures and all you need to know about new ABA League team

Side set to be first from UAE to compete in leading professional European league

Dubai BC will compete in the 2024/25 ABA League, starting next week against defending champions Red Star. Photo: Dubai Basketball

Dubai Basketball are set to make history as the first team from the UAE to compete in a leading European basketball league. The newly formed club, also referred to as Dubai BC, are taking part in the 2024/25 ABA League – the top-tier basketball competition for teams from the former Yugoslavia.

Ahead of the historic first game of their inaugural season against defending champions Red Star from Serbia, here is everything you need to know about Dubai BC.

What is Dubai Basketball?

Dubai BC is a new professional basketball team who will compete in the ABA League for the next three seasons. The team was founded by Abdulla Saeed Al Naboodah, the former chairman of Al Ahli Football Club (now Shabab Al Ahli), and Dejan Kamenjasevic, who will work as the club's general manager. Salem bin Dasmal – a prominent businessman and former national tennis champion – has been appointed as chief executive.

Dubai BC will play their home games at the Coca-Cola Arena.

What is the ABA League?

The ABA League is the leading professional basketball league for teams from the former Yugoslavia. The 2024/25 season has been expanded to 16 teams and includes clubs from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro.

It has been a breeding ground for many NBA players from the Balkan region, including Serbia's three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, former NBA All-Star Goran Dragic (Slovenia), Phoenix Suns centre Jusuf Nurkic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia).

The new season will comprise 30 regular season games, with the top eight advancing to the play-offs and the bottom team consigned to relegation to the ABA League Second Division. The second-bottom side will play a qualification against the Second Division finalists to avoid demotion.

The play-off quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played in a best-of-three series, with the finals decided in a best of five.

What is the Dubai Basketball roster?

Dubai BC have assembled a 12-player squad representing nine countries: Serbia, USA, Italy, Latvia, Turkey, Jordan, Croatia, the Philippines, and Slovenia.

Dubai BC roster: Klemen Prepelic, captain (shooting guard, Slovenia), Davis Bertans (power forward, Latvia), Leon Radosevic (centre, Serbia), Awudu Abass (small forward, Italy), Nate Mason (point guard, USA), Ahmet Duverioglu (centre, Jordan-Turkey), JaCorey Williams (power forward, USA), Nemanja Dangubic (small forward, Serbia), Danilo Andusic (shooting guard, Serbia), Aleksa Uskokovic (point guard, Serbia), Bora Yasar (centre, Turkey), Thirdy Ravena (Philippines, shooting guard).

Dubai Basketball fixtures

Dubai BC's first game will be against defending regular and post-season champions Red Star on September 22 at Coca-Cola Arena. The regular season will be played until May 2-5 followed by the play-off quarter-finals from May 9. The finals are scheduled to begin on June 6.

How to get tickets

Tickets to watch Dubai BC's season-opener are available from the Coca-Cola Arena website with prices starting from Dh75. Season passes can also be purchased, starting at Dh1,750, which includes reserved seating for all 15 regular season home games.