After recording the team’s first wins at the 2024 national championships and 2025 Canada Summer Games, the NWT’s male basketball players won no fewer than three games at the 2026 nationals.
“It’s just something that I’m never going to forget. Hopefully, this team will be talked about by future coaches as something for future teams to look up and aspire to be,” said Zachary Mathison, an athlete on the NWT’s U17 team.
The team won twice against Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2026 Canadian Basketball U15 and U17 National Championships, first beating the province 101-76 then 82-72 two days later. The NWT also beat Prince Edward Island 104-93.
Jose Esteban, a coach for the U17 team, said Basketball NWT’s success has been years in the making. A U15 iteration of the team beat Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2024 national championships and the U17 team beat Prince Edward Island at the 2025 Canada Summer Games.
“To be able to go three [wins] and two [loses] – like, a positive record – it’s a pretty big deal,” said Esteban.
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“It just goes to show all the hard work the coaches and the players have been putting in and it’s changing how basketball is getting viewed in the North right now.”
Mathison said he and other players have been coached by Esteban and Mark Matheson for the past four years, which Mathison said helped the team win.
Players who were newer to the team brought their own dynamic, Mathison said, making the final team “all just fit together super nicely.”
“Our team chemistry was really amazing. All of our team just glued together really well, and our coaches too,” he said.
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“Being with this group has been special, and I feel blessed and thankful to be able to coach them through these years,’ said Esteban.
Esteban said the team started training harder after a poor performance in 2023. At the time, the coaching staff – which included Esteban as an assistant coach – told the players what needed to change if they wanted to play basketball at a more competitive level.
Since then, Esteban says he has seen players spend more time in the gym practising and working out. Mathison has seen the team cohesion grow.
Mathison described recording three wins at 2026 nationals, which took place in Regina from August 2-8 for the U15 and U17 mens, as “just unreal.”
“Most underdog stories, it’s a really close game, you win by a little bit. But for us, we kind-of just blew them out of the water,” said Mathison.
After finishing with a 3-2 record, Esteban said he told the team the achievement was “for all NWT athletes.”
“I just hope this inspires more players and helps them believe they can do what we just did. As long as they put their mind to it, work really hard, they can achieve it,” said Mathison.
As basketball in the territory develops, Esteban said the NWT needs better facilities to practise in and more support from out-of-territory coaches.
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“I think it would be even more impactful if we got more coaches coming up here to see what it’s like in Yellowknife,” said Esteban, while also acknowledging Canada Basketball, referees and coaches from other teams recognized the territory’s success during the national championships.
The next milestone for territorial basketball arrives in October.
That month, in a first for the Northwest Territories, six universities will send their women’s basketball teams to Yellowknife for a preseason tournament.
