NBA sets its eyes on young Dominican talent

With three stars in the best basketball in the world, this would be the ideal time to develop talent on Quisqueyan soil

In recent decades, the actions carried out by the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the aim of internationalizing the league and the sport have borne fruit and the evidence is the main stars of the league such as Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetoukonmpo, Luka Doncic, among others.

The Dominican Republic has not been immune to this and today they have figures such as Al Horford, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Chris Duarte with notable relevance within their organizations and others like Lester Quiñones and Jean Montero who seek their space within the best basketball in the world.

For this reason, it is no coincidence that in recent years the NBA has focused more on the Latin American market and, in a very special way, on the Dominican Republic.

The most recent proof of this is how the NBA Basketball School RD has started and is developing with camps in various locations in the country with the aim of reaching boys and girls of different ages.

The sports director of the NBA school in the Dominican Republic, Emmanuel Alonsotalked with ESPNDigital to give details of the work they have been doing in the Caribbean country.

“At the NBA Basketball School we have a program that is purely for development and training that is focused on children between 6 and 18 years old,” says the Argentine coach. “It is a development program and the objective in the country is to provide training opportunities, but also to create sports habits and promote values in boys, girls and adolescents with the essence of the NBA”.

The NBA Basketball School of the Dominican Republic has already held camps in Santo Domingo and embarked to take its entire arsenal to the Eastern Region, specifically to Punta Cana, this September.

The curriculum of the NBA Basketball School according to the institution “is designed to develop players and provide parents, coaches and organizations with a better understanding of the improvement process, it has been developed by the department of International Basketball Operations of the NBA in consultation with current and former NBA coaches, players and coaches, player development specialists.”

Due to the aforementioned, Alonso clarifies that in the NBA BS they do not necessarily seek to attract talent, although it could be used for it, but this type of action corresponds to other programs such as the NBA Academy.