NBL Next Star Luke Paul will again have the honour of representing his country, after being named in the Australian Under 17s men’s team.

Announced on Monday, Paul, one of the country’s brightest young talents, will headline the 12-person Crocodiles side for June’s Under 17s FIBA World Cup in Turkey.

Joining the 17-year-old in the team is fellow West Australian John Aryang, Victorians Ahmet Yahya Basaran, Josh McCann, Lucas Byrne, William Hamilton, Riak Akhuar, Tom Dammers and Alexander Mabbott, Queenslanders Andrew Watene and Isaiah Jorgenson, and NSW’s Antonio Browne.

This selection comes after Paul dominated at the recent Under 18s National Championships in Brisbane, where the Paul starred for Western Australia Metro.

His 38-point performance against Victoria Country and 30-point effort against NSW Country were his highest-scoring outings, while he flirted with triple-doubles on multiple occasions, including posting 16 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists (along with 7 combined steals and blocks) in one game and 16 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists in another.

Paul, who is the youngest ever athlete to sign a Next Stars contract, is also set to lead the country’s campaign at the 2026 FIBA Under 17 World Cup in June in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Next Stars program has seen six players drafted in the first round across the last six NBA drafts, including LaMelo Ball (2020), Josh Giddey (2021), Ousmane Dieng (2022) and Alex Sarr (2024), all being selected inside the lottery.

CODE Sports is also reporting that the Cairns Taipans have emerged as the “frontrunner” to land Paul’s signature for the Hungry Jack’s NBL27 Season.