But it is beyond Australia's borders where they are landing now, with a basketball program in Sydney's western suburbs becoming a major recruiting ground for American colleges.
Dozens of the Sudanese-Australian players have earned basketball scholarships to high schools and universities in the United States.
Yet, some have also dropped out along the way.
Tucked away in the streets of western Sydney is a spot known as the Blacktown Police Citizens Youth Club, or PCYC.
It is particularly known for the swarms of South Sudanese-Australians who use the centre to refine their skills in basketball.
The club is now in the midst of a major transformation, from a centre for recreational basketball to a program becoming a recruiting ground for top basketball prospects.
Calling themselves the Savannah Pride, many of the Sudanese-Australian basketball players are making the jump from playing the sport as a hobby to making careers out of it.
When Mayor Chagai fled Sudan's civil war and, years later, reached Australia as a young man, he turned to basketball within a matter of weeks.
With a group of other South Sudanese refugees, he started playing at the PCYC because it was near his home and only $2 to enter.
In 2006, he began coaching younger players in the South Sudanese community simply to help them find a passion in life.
Chagai says, now, the program has come a long way from the 20 students it began with.
"Now, we are talking about over 150 young players that are involved in the program on a weekly basis. The majority are still in high school."
Last year, Thon Maker, a 216-centimetre South Sudanese-Australian out of Perth, was the 10th player picked in the United States' National Basketball Association draft.
"In the 2016 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks select Thon Maker, South Sudan, from Perth, Australia."
Today, the Savannah Pride club is looking to send some of its own players on that path to basketball's highest levels.
The program has already become a well-known hotspot for coaches from the United States, with 20 players making their way to the States on athletic scholarships so far.
The scholarships have taken them to private high schools, even universities, but several of them have eventually dropped out and returned to Australia.
Chagai says it is because they were too consumed by the excitement of a basketball scholarship to analyse whether the offer would actually benefit them.
"Some kids don't understand, and they don't know that. When they go to America, they're ending up getting surprised. And some of those coaches in between that are taking them, they're trying to do maybe a little bit behind the door,* or not being straight up with the kids, and then the kids end up getting stuck. And they're not being told the truth."
Omar Akech had been with the Savannah Pride for seven years when he was offered a scholarship to play for the Combine Academy in the US state of North Carolina.
Akech says he never anticipated how difficult playing at a US prep school would be.
"It was pretty challenging. Just going over there at the age of 19, it was very different, you know? Being so young, finishing high school and just going over there, and not knowing what's going to happen, it was just challenging for the first couple of months."
Akech returned to Australia after a year, struggling with the demand of sporting, schooling and personal commitments.
He says the pressure to perform well at both school and basketball can be overwhelming and is the reason many others have returned home.
He says hard work is needed off the court, too, to succeed.
"I'd say first thing is just to study. The first thing is to study, get your studies right. That's what I always say to people. I'd tell all the younger people at Savannah Pride to get your studies right before you even think of getting into college. Get your studies right, and then you put in the hard work on the courts."
Omar Akech is hoping to pursue an accounting degree next year before trying his luck overseas again.
Chagai still supports those like him who come back to Australia, through mentoring, support with higher-education enrolments and help in finding jobs.
He says he wants to ensure everyone is on the right track, in Australia or beyond.
That, he says, is a core part of the Savannah Pride, that the team sticks together through anything, as a family.
"There's always that life after basketball. We are part of them, so we still support them when they come back."
