{"id":414823,"date":"2026-01-15T14:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414823\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:40:09","slug":"hoopsfest-is-the-cream-of-the-crop-iverson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/414823\/","title":{"rendered":"HoopsFest is the &#8220;cream of the crop&#8221;: Iverson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The National Basketball League and Women\u2019s National Basketball League hosted a media conference in Perth on Thursday featuring NBA legend Allen Iverson, ahead of the opening night tonight of 2026 HoopsFest in Perth.<\/p>\n<p>The appearance of Iverson adds to a blockbuster lineup, with the NBA Hall-of-Famer reflecting on his career and the opportunity to connect with Australian fans.<\/p>\n<p>&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsfest.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BUY HOOPSFEST TICKETS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The second edition of HoopsFest features all 10 NBL and eight WNBL teams in Western Australia for a four-day festival of basketball, fashion, culture and community engagement, from January 15 to 18.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like bragging rights [all teams in the one place at HoopsFest],&#8221; Iverson said during the press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s the cream of the crop \u2026 you get the opportunity to watch it all unfold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s something I think that people will remember and cherish forever.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You get to see all the best guys make the claim to be the best in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The HoopsFest action tips off Thursday when Perth and Bendigo lock horns in a WNBL clash, before Sydney plays Brisbane in the NBL.<\/p>\n<p>The NBL fixture tips off at 9.30pm AEDT (6.30pm AWST), live on ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>&gt;&gt;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbl.com.au\/news\/hoopsfest-preview---everything-you-need-to-know\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOOPSFEST<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/696810544c3525aaec836c13_Disney+_1920x250_V1.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Basketball League and Women\u2019s National Basketball League hosted a media conference in Perth on Thursday featuring&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-414823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}