The inaugural Men’s Basketball Without Borders Next Up camp will be held in Istanbul, Türkiye, from Wednesday 26 to Saturday 29 August 2026, the NBA, FIBA and the Turkish Basketball Federation have announced.
The camp will take place at Basketbol Gelişim Merkezi and will bring together 80 of the top male high-school-age prospects from around the world. It marks the debut of the new BWB Next Up format and comes during the 25th anniversary year of Basketball Without Borders, the NBA and FIBA’s global development and community outreach programme.
Players are set to take part in athletic testing, movement efficiency work, skill development stations, 3-on-3 competition, life-skills seminars and 5-on-5 games. The NBA said current and former NBA and FIBA players and coaches will support the camp, with names listed by the league including Kenny Atkinson, Vlade Divac, Danilo Gallinari, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton and Jalen Suggs.
The roster of campers will be announced closer to the event. NBA and FIBA have also said the wider BWB Next Up model will include annual camps for the top 80 male and top 80 female prospects from outside the United States, with top-performing players selected for future BWB All-Star camps around NBA and WNBA All-Star events.
For UK basketball readers, the announcement is another reminder of how structured international development environments are becoming a bigger part of the elite pathway. Camps like BWB do not replace domestic club, academy and national-team work, but they can help connect leading prospects with global coaching, competition and scouting networks.
Istanbul has previously hosted BWB Europe in 2002 and 2008, and its return under the Next Up banner gives the programme another major European base at a time when youth talent development is increasingly global.
Source: NBA announcement on Basketball Without Borders Next Up Camp 2026.