In my first role with @northpolehoops as the Commissioner of Canada’s only nationwide prep basketball league @npacanada I had a vision that some of the players on the floor would one day reach the highest level. Back then, the CEBL did not exist so what that ‘level’ could be was somewhat unknown.
10 years later, I am back with NPH while still maintaining a meaningful role within Canada’s professional basketball league and there are 48 players that have come through the pathway I’m lucky enough to say I helped build.
From high school, to university. Some stayed in Canada the whole time, others went south of the border but have returned to begin or further their pro careers. Some have seen their playing career end and are now starting their coaching careers here as well.
So much opportunity. But educating the masses at all levels on what actually exists right here in Canada might be the most important piece to the future of the sport in 🇨🇦
Why Basketball? What’s YOUR WHY? 🏀 @_jasonthom gives you his.
From high school gyms to the PROs, JT has been driven by one mission — telling the story of Canadian Basketball 🇨🇦
Creating platforms.
Shining light on talent.
Providing real exposure to the space. 👀
That vision aligns with everything we stand for at North Pole Hoops.
This is bigger than the game. ❄️🏀
NEW ERA, Veteran Leadership Required on Any 🏆 team.
Guidance, Mentorship, Support 🫡🏀
@tariq_sbiet on the addition of @_jasonthom to the #NPHFamily
Team work makes the dream work. 💯
Grow the game, Grow the industry.
Develop the Next Generation.
🚨 OFFICIAL: @_jasonthom Named COO of @northpolehoops 🚨
Proud to announce the appointment of Jason Thom as Chief Operating Officer — marking a powerful return to the NPH ecosystem.
Jason joins us coming off his role as Director of Basketball Operations with the @cebleague and previously served as Commissioner of @npacanada His proven league leadership experience and deep understanding of the Canadian basketball landscape position NPH for its next phase of growth.
In addition to leading leagues, Jason has helped shape how basketball is covered, understood, and consumed nationally. He held senior roles with @thescore Television Network and Rogers @sportsnet followed by broadcasting and production work with @dazn@tsn_official@canadabasketball & @raptors905
This return represents alignment, experience, and momentum.
As we continue expansion efforts nationally @nphshowcase Jason will oversee day-to-day operations, strengthen our systems, and help unify our national network of builders.
The next chapter starts now. 🇨🇦🏀🌎
Broadcasting got me into the CEBL and an invite to Saskatoon put me on the 🎙️ for the first ever 🏆 game and part of a group who became family. Together, we were the only league that operated in 🇨🇦 during the 😷 and it seemed like everything we accomplished was truly historic.
We travelled a group of 🇨🇦🏀 OG’s and some hired help to Nicaragua to become the first 🍁 team to win a game in a FIBA club competition. We then brought the BCLA’s to Calgary and Brampton leading to CEBL teams landing in both of those markets.
As the CEBL Director of Basketball Operations I helped launch a team in Montreal (Je t’aime ❤️).
J Cole even played in our league! Then that same season Drake put us on blast to 140M on IG 😬
That indirectly led to me overseeing a revamp of the CEBL’s officiating department and working with the top refs in Canada (many of which are the unsung backbone of our sport)!
As a de facto GM I built two teams that ‘Dueled’ in front of 7.5K people in Quebec City in 2023 (Je t’aime aussi ❤️) to hopefully plant a seed there!
Then in Winnipeg in 2025, I sat in the rafters amazed by the scene looking up at a name of someone who personified why the league was built in the first place (miss ya Chad ☝️). What the CEBL has provided me personally is immeasurable and my goal is to always stay involved heading into its bright future ❤️🙏
Throughout my journey, there were two familiar faces I crossed paths with; Tariq and Elias Sbiet who ran North Pole Hoops.
I had quickly realized that while 🇨🇦 🏀 players were excelling, the industry to support the sport here in Canada did not exist. They were looking to change that and they welcomed me in.
First, as a broadcaster. Then, as the Commissioner of Canada’s first ever National Prep League (@npacanada ). Over the next two years we brought high level prep basketball and our vision to Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal. We helped a dozen kids reach the NCAA and many more to USports. For the first time ever, I was helping build an infrastructure that could help the sport here at home while helping players reach their dreams at playing at the next level.
NPH also became the media partner for the Signature All Canadian Showcase which allowed me to apply all my media skills to a one time event with 6 future NBA/GL players (the opening montage became one of my favourite productions ever).
I was broadcasting Raptors905 and Canada Basketball games while picking up media gigs and got word a new pro league was breaking ground.
Around that time Steve Nash took his rightful place in the Hall Of Fame with a speech focused on “playing the long game.” It felt like he was speaking directly to me because I had been playing the long game and I soon realized I never wanted it to end!
In the early 2000’s the top 🇨🇦 🏀 players spent the high schools season in the US. So my summers were spent tracking them down when they were home to film interviews.
A prime example was the All Canada Classic run by Wayne Dawkins which gave me a chance to cross paths with some future NCAA stars. Getting highlights of that game onto The Score laid the groundwork for UpNext, which became the first recurring feature on National TV solely about the next wave of 🇨🇦 🏀 talent. Then when they hit the NCAA, I travelled to tell their stories on campus.
But when job cuts meant I no longer had the 📺 platform, I thought my role in the game was over. When Iin reality, it had just begun.
A chance meeting on Front street with Jay Triano changed my perspective. I told him I thought my time with bball was done as I needed to find a real job to provide my 1yo daughter and there was no real industry for someone like me to stay in the game.
He understood. But he also said that 🍁 🏀 needed people like me, who loved the game and weren’t looking to take something FROM it, but instead, lend their skills and expertise TO it.
That convo was enough to keep me grinding, filming on my phone, learning to edit, whatever it took to keep me in the gym and growing alongside the same players I was spotlighting. All on the blind belief that it would it would just work out…
My last post got me thinking about how integral the months of January/February have been for me in my career.
January 2001: I nailed down a job at The Score before I had earned my diploma.
On the ceremony day while my classmates went to celebrate, I made it downtown Toronto for my shift watching live sports, producing highlights for The Score Tonight and voicing them over for all the diehard sports fans staying up late or getting ready for work the next morning.
At 370 King I met the first crew of people who knew more about basketball than I did (Cabbie, Tim Micallef, Coleman, Sands, B-Lynch). As the years went on more basketball die hards joined the ranks inspired by what they were seeing on our network. Together with an army of tireless editors on broken down equipment we fought to bring Canadian viewers basketball stories and highlights they couldn’t get anywhere else because social media didn’t exist.
LeBron’s first HS game on TV, March Madness, CourtCuts, Courtsurfing.
For 9years during the NBA season I watched three games a night, five nights a week and sometimes voiced highlights for the entire NBA slate of games. When no one wanted to cover the struggling Raptors, I spent entire days/nights at the arena talking with NBA players, coaching staffs and broadcasters. Gaining word of mouth stories about the game, the history, the ins and outs of the NBA and gaining contacts…one of which, changed my entire trajectory.
Leo Rautins had just taken over the head coaching position on the Canadian senior men’s national team so I approached him one day prior to a Raptors game. I asked him why it seemed nobody cared about Canada Basketball, and he simply replied. It was because nobody knew the stories of the players. That was the 🔥 that lit the fuse… I was gonna do everything in my power to use the platform I had at a national television station to tell people why they should care about Canadian basketball as much as they did about hockey.
It started with Leo opening the doors to training camp for me and it continued with players who would trust me to tell their story. My mission had officially begun, whether I knew what was UpNext or not…
If anything could get me back on IG it’s a trend about being nostalgic.
#2016 started for me by securing an interview with back to back MVP Steph Curry through a long time connection I had with the Warriors PR staff back from my days at The Score (shout out the OG’s Al Harrington, Jason Richardson and Raymond Ritter).
My amazing features crew at Sportsnet helped me track down Steph’s middle school coach and now I may be one of the only people on earth with these childhood pictures in my collection.
In San Fran Michael Grange and I had the pleasure to chat with the late great Craig Sager who passed later that year (RIP to the greatest to do it).
After watching Stef shoot in his Carolina Panthers jersey ahead of Super Bowl 50, we sat down to talk about his “Lost Season in the 6”.
The feature we shot ran as part of 2016 NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto but I wasn’t around to see it through.
Days after returning to Toronto I was a part of a massive layoff at Rogers. In the moment I was being “wished well on my future endeavours” I snapped this pic of my employee ID card and walked out the door.
Little did I know that the 10 years prior to that moment and the 10 years that followed would have more to do with my current trajectory than that trip of a lifetime ever could 🇨🇦🏀⏳🙏 🚀
I count my blessings every day for being able to follow my passion and work in basketball. The decision to change my career path so many years ago has been rewarded with people being added to my circle that share the same drive and passion for growing this game in Canada. To start 2025, one of those moments came with Adrian Wojnarowski who recently walked away from being the biggest name in North American basketball media to follow his passion as the GM of the basketball program at his alma mater, St Bonaventure University. Lots was discussed on this day, but the people who were there and the fact that the work I have put in made this even possible means so much more 🙏
