Hoops, heats, and beats: Summer Jam, the Melbourne-based basketball-meets-live music spectacular, is returning in February 2025.

Announcing its high-octane, three-day schedule, this year’s festival will be held at Peanut Farm Reserve in St Kilda, Victoria, from Friday, 7 February, to Sunday, 9 February. It will feature special guests, event activations, and entertainment.

Since its establishment in 2011 by local street ballers Eamon Larman-Ripon and Daniel Ella, Summer Jam has grown from a grassroots community event into the country’s largest summer basketball festival, attracting 8,000 punters annually. Endorsed by Jordan Brand, the festival is a must-attend three-day celebration of hoops, culture, and community.

Of course, the heart of Summer Jam lies at the men’s and women’s 5v5 Championship Games and Finals, where Australia’s top players won’t just battle for bragging rights but for the $20,000 cash prize.

The festival will also host the National Slam Dunk Contest, where Australia’s best dunkers will compete head-to-head for a chance to qualify for the prestigious World Cup Contest. This year’s festival will also introduce the Creator Cup, a new addition where content creators will battle it out for “supremacy and glory.”

In addition to the basketball and content creation excitement, Summer Jam has locked in a line-up of DJs, including Mistah Cee, DJ Smilez, and DJ Ziggy, to keep the energy high throughout the weekend. The festival has also booked live music performances from Melbourne-based Ethiopian singer Soli, emerging hip-hop star VV.Ace, and rapper Nabio.

On Sunday, Summer Jam will welcome a headline performance from NBA athlete-turned-performer Lance Stephenson, who promises to deliver an “unforgettable” show to close the festival with a bang. Stephenson will also present the Creator Cup Trophy to the winning content creation team.

Final tickets for the 2025 Summer Jam festival are available here.

To celebrate this year’s edition of Summer Jam, The Music caught up with the festival’s co-founder, Daniel Ella, for a chat about what makes its 13th event so special.

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Reaching the 13th year of Summer Jam is an incredible achievement. What does it mean to come this far—not only in time but also in impact?

Something I never imagined; I kind of looked at year by year. Realising it’s year 13 is pretty surreal; comparing where we are now to how we began, we can be proud we have persevered for this long. This is our life, so our impact is something we can look at in year 20.

How did the team go from humble beginnings to becoming a cultural movement and a must-attend event on the annual calendar?

Passion has been everything, but also how we grew up. Eamon and I have been friends since we were in kindergarten and played together from a young age, sharing similar dreams about basketball. Coming of age into adulthood, it's always felt like we just fitted the show for what was to come for the next 13 years.

The reality of running one of the biggest streetball championships in the world presented by global partners Jordan and Foot Locker, we have to make pivotal decisions that are guided by our grassroots values, and it's important we are steel strong with that.

This year sees the launch of the Creators Cup. What can you share with us about that event highlight?

We have invited one of the biggest hoop creators from the US - Cam Wilder and K Showtime. This one's super exciting for us - creators are a large part of the streetball landscape. This exhibition is formatted as a Melbourne v Sydney match-up with Australia's best creators playing for their home city. Kind of interested in how it all plays out!

What challenges have you faced in putting on Summer Jam each year?

That’s tough to answer simply because the challenges are completely different each year. It is such a mammoth project and lots of moving parts are the nature of the game. The basic principle is to focus on what you can control and leave what you can't.

What’s your favourite thing about the event?

The final moments - when we are all together, and the men’s grand final is on, I can sit on the sideline and enjoy the last moments, live through the teams competing for the streetball championship of Australia. 

How proficient are you at playing basketball?

I never thought about it like that! Haha. I always had high expectations of myself; my first dream was to be a professional player. So I worked hard and got to play around the world, including college, and represented Australia in the first-ever 3X3 World Tour with Eamon in 2012. 

Bringing live music to Summer Jam, how do you view Aussie hip-hop?

I feel Aussie hip-hop is different from talking about the Australian Hip-Hop scene.

If we are talking about the Hip-Hop scene in Australia, it has a history, but now, with a multicultural face, I feel it is definitely growing but still in its infancy to be recognised worldwide. Our country has people from all walks of life, so there are mixtures of influences and sounds, but it is all about originality.

As years go on, there are definitely more heads making waves and adding value to the scene. I’m just excited to see who consistently puts out great music and not just catered for social media.

Have music and sports always intersected for the Summer Jam team?

Music and sport has always intersected streetball, we're just celebrating that culture here in Australia. It is the coming together of like-minded people - and that's what we enjoy doing.