Luke Penrith's connection to basketball runs deep.

When NBL Indigenous Round kicks off from Thursday, pieces of his story and culture will be on court, and on screens across the country and around the world.

The Wiradjuri man, with connections to the Wotjobaluk, Yuin and Gumbaynggirr nations, is the artist behind the official ball art for the round - his design: Flowing Unity: The Heartbeat of Basketball.

Sydney's National Centre for Indigenous Excellece in Redfern hosted launch events for the round on Wednesday.

In his words, Mr Penrith has the "best of both worlds" as both a saltwater and freshwater person.

The rivers and seas, which inspire much of his artwork, are central to the ball design.

Within it is the story of culture and history tied with sport and Mr Penrith's life.

"Waterways, across the nation, that's the lifeblood of communities. And for my family, basketball is the same," he told National Indigenous Times, speaking from Redfern.

"It's given me so many opportunities, and hopefully throughout Indigenous Round for the NBL, hopefully it gives an opportunity for our young people to see our artwork on it and say, yeah, I'd love to give basketball a go."

The design also speaks to resilience of and aspirations for Indigenous communities and future generations across Australia

"Like a normal basketball, when you bounce it, it bounces back. So that's what we need to get our people, our young people, that resilience to bounce back after setbacks. Basketball, and especially sport in general, is, you know, it's a good way to get life skills around communication, going through adversity, how you work through issues? Hopefully they take that on when they become adults and have kids themselves," Mr Penrith said.

The father of five says the sport is in his family's blood - his nan raised nine basketballers, his mum played, he was involved in talent programs around the Riverina region of New South Wales as a kid, with his sons now playing at the rep level.

Penrith said he's at the local stadium every afternoon between his four coaching gigs.

"(My basketball) It was just about the memories that you made as a young person. Now I'm just trying to emulate that and give my kids the best opportunity and have a positive youth sports experience as well," he said.

His self-named business Luke Penrith Arts & Designs has its own product range - including Yarning Circles designed HIVIS work shirts.

Now with imprint on the NBL - something filling his family with pride and causing a bit of a buzz at home in Brungle, there's opportunity to reach a global audience

"Basketball, it's not just shooting hoops these days. It's a whole new ecosystem of culture. It's the fashion, the shoes, and if we can bring our elements of First Nation storytelling to that, it gives our kids a sense of pride and belonging to a sport that's global.

"Families that are watching it in the States, if they get to learn about our culture, 65,000 years of culture that's never been broken, that's something for us to be proud of."

NBL First Nations and Inclusion Manager and Palawa woman Kellie Langmaid said Penrith's "magnificent" artwork "celebrates unity, resilience, and cultural diversity, and serves as an important reminder of the intrinsic connection between sport and First Nations heritage."

NBL Indigenous Round starts with the tip off between the Brisbane Bullets and Melbourne United at Meanjin's Nissan Arena on Thursday evening.

Each club will wear Indigenous design jerseys throughout.

The league also announced its Innovate RAP this week.

"We have been on a journey to ensure the NBL makes a significant, meaningful, and lasting impact on First Nations communities, and these new initiatives are an important step in our path," Langmaid told NBL.com.au.

"Our Innovate RAP carries on the lessons learnt from our Reflect RAP and is about implementing change. The RAP outlines a deep understanding of how the NBL can help positively influence the First Nations community, and the actions we have committed to in order to reach those outcomes.

"Identifying and fostering future talent is a key theme of the RAP and has been the driver behind two important initiatives. We are proud to have launched a talent identification program in Queensland, while during NAIDOC Week we partnered with Patty Mills' Indigenous Basketball Australia to help shine a spotlight on the emerging First Nations talent during an IBA All-Stars game."

While acknowledging the RAP progresses as "an important step forward" and "a privilege to commit to this ambitious, innovative, and future-focused RAP", NBL chief executive David Stevenson said, via NBL.com.au, "now it is about action".