PERTH (Australia) – Australian Alexander Dickeson capped off a strong performance at the 14th edition of the Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp by receiving the boys Most Valuable Player award.

Dickeson took home the camp’s highest honor after four days of on and off-court skills training in Perth in western Australian. It was the third time that FIBA and NBA’s global development outreach program took place in Australia following Melbourne in 2016 and Canberra in 2022. The camp also was part of the first-ever HoopsFest, a multi-day basketball competition and fan event celebrating the biggest weekend in Australian basketball history.

 
Former NBA greats Carmelo Anthony and Kenny Smith were both in Perth for the HoopsFest and gave the BWB campers a surprise visit.

 
The 2024 edition of the BWB Asia camp brought together 30 boys and 30 girls from more than 20 Asian and Pacific countries. The campers received basketball and life lessons from current and former NBA, WNBA, and FIBA players, legends and coaches, including NBA champion Aron Baynes (Australia) and four-time WNBA champion Cynthia Cooper. Current and former NBA assistant coaches Bobby Jackson (Philadelphia 76ers), Jay Larranaga (LA Clippers) and Terry Porter, as well as FIBA Players’ Commission member and former Australia Women’s National Team member Jenni Screen (Australia) served as BWB Asia coaches. President of the World Association of Basketball Coaches Patrick Hunt (Australia) was the camp’s director and Kristen Crenshaw (Orlando Magic) was the camp’s athletic trainer.

 
A total of 41 former BWB campers were among the record 125 international players on opening-night rosters for the 2023-24 NBA season, including 2022 NBA All-Rookie Second Team member and NBA Global Academy graduate Josh Giddey (Chicago Bulls; Australia; BWB Asia 2018 and BWB Global 2020), Josh Green (Charlotte Hornets; Australia; BWB Global 2018) and 2020 NBA All-Rookie Second Team member Rui Hachimura (Los Angeles Lakers; Japan; BWB Global 2016).

The BWB program has reached more than 4,500 participants from 142 countries and territories since 2001, with 127 former campers advancing to the NBA or WNBA. The NBA and FIBA have staged 77 BWB camps in 51 cities across 33 countries on six continents.

The BWB Asia camp comes two months after Dickeson played for Australia at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024, where he averaged 5.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.0 steals per game

In addition to winning the MVP, Dickeson took the honors as boys 3-Point Champion, while fellow Australian Mading Kuany was the Defensive MVP and Jordan’s Omar Hijazi received the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award.

 
Dickeson and Kuany were two of five Australians named as camp All-Stars along with Ajak Nyuon, Henry Sewell and Sa Pilimai. The other All-Stars were the New Zealand duo of Hayden Jones and Troy Plumtree and Mohamed Ndao of Qatar.

FIBA