Brooklyn Basketball, the official youth basketball program of the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty, recently announced a significant expansion. Not only is it adding to its school programming to include high school students, introducing more competitive opportunities, and launching a new community partner program, it will be opening three new locations in Brooklyn in 2027.
Since opening the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center near the Barclays Center last year, Brooklyn Basketball has welcomed more than 16,000 people and served as a home for clubs, camps, clinics, and community events. The three new locations will be in Greenpoint, Bushwick, and Gowanus.
“We’ve been so delighted by the response to [our first location] and the fact that it’s really become a community hub,” said Marissa Shorenstein, chief operating officer of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. “We wanted to create opportunities around the borough.”
Credit: Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment
Expanding Brooklyn Basketball and making it more accessible has a positive impact on its programming. It will add a new performance track with three sessions per week focused on skill development, team practice, and game days, as well as league play, tournaments, and championship opportunities.
The New York Liberty’s training facility is also expected to open in 2027. It will be available to Liberty players, coaches, and basketball operations staff year-round, and will also host community activities.
“In addition to the practice court, there is an outdoor court where we hope to be able to host some youth clinics,” said Shorenstein. “The space will have a beautiful rooftop, so there is going to be a lot of opportunity for community engagement. Also, adjacent to the facility, there are two smaller buildings under construction as part of the project, one of which is really going to be fan-facing.”
At the current Brooklyn Basketball facility in downtown Brooklyn, there is after-school programming for ages 6 to 17 with two tracks. One is for kids who just want to learn the basics of basketball and the other is a performance track that involves league play. All of the programming is coed, but Wednesday is girls-only programming day. Nets and Liberty coaches provide input about all of the programming, and players sometimes drop by to share insights with participants.
“The goal of the program is to offer specialized feedback to each student and to give them smaller, incremental opportunities to continue to grow and move up in the program so that if they’re excelling, they don’t need to wait until the next school year to move into the next phase of the program,” Shorenstein said. “They can move at their own pace.”
