NBL contract and movement news: Which players, coaches are coming and going from your club

With Almost 50 players off contract, the NBL’s 2023 free agency period is set to be a frantic one. Here are the most in-demand men from every club.

The NBL’s off-court battle is set to intensify in the coming weeks when a host of the league’s biggest names hit the open market.

Almost 50 players are off-contract at season’s end, opening the door for a frantic free agency period.

The likes of Keanu Pinder, DJ Hogg (Taipans), William McDowell-White (Breakers) and Xavier Rathan-Mayes (United) are all looking to secure new deals.

McDowell-White’s next move is particularly interesting.

Who are the biggest free agents in the NBL?

The rising Boomers guard has enjoyed a stellar season with the second-placed New Zealand Breakers, averaging 10.5 points, 5.08 rebounds and 6.15 assists.

McDowell-White is highly regarded, so the Breakers could have a fight on its hands to retain the gifted 24-year-old guard.

The Phoenix are keen to bring former Boomer and NBA man Ryan Broekhoff back next season.

Melbourne United import guard Rayjon Tucker is also off-contract, and it remains uncertain if he’ll return for NBL24.

Tucker, who is returning to America in the off-season, posted on social media over the weekend, saying: “Thank you Australia”.

It’s understood United are considering bringing the athletic guard back again next season, although he could attract big offers from overseas clubs.

DEFINING CALL AWAITS PHOENIX AS COACH WEIGHS UP FUTURE

—Michael Randall

South East Melbourne is facing one of the biggest decisions in its young history.

Stick with the only coach the four-year-old franchise has ever known or move in a different direction?

Out-of-contract Mitchell will take part in an all-encompassing review before the club makes a call on his future, on the back of a 15-win, fifth-place finish that ended in Thursday night’s 106-99 play-in loss to Perth.

Up by double digits in the last quarter, the Phoenix should have cruised, but Wildcats’ triple MVP Bryce Cotton had other ideas, catching fire, as he so often does, to end their season in heartbreak.

Mitchell knows they should have won — it’s “one of the most-disappointing losses I’ve ever been a part of” — but now he, too, has his own question to answer: does he still want to do it?

“It’s one of those things where I think we’ll let the dust settle,” Mitchell said.

“In time, we’ll sit down, have a discussion, review the season forensically, and we’ll go ‘am I the best man for the job’.

“If so, we’ll move forward, maybe. Do I want to do it again? I’ll discover that over the next couple of weeks as we review the season — and if the club wants me back.”

Simon Mitchell speaks to his players during a timeout.

Mitchell has polarised Phoenix fans over the journey. His players and the organisation love him dearly — which makes the club’s decision more difficult — and he’s cut from the cloth of the Heartland’s working class fanbase. But there has been a negative perception over the past three years that routinely bubbles on social media that culminated, post game, with calls for his sacking.

Do they have a point? Maybe. The team has attracted criticism for its inability to contain opposing teams and it would irk Mitchell this season was its best finish in defensive rating — fifth. The expansion club made the NBL finals in its second campaign and was back in the postseason after narrowly missing the top four in 2021.

Fellow expansion club Tasmania’s immediate success — a grand final backed up by a top-four finish — hasn’t helped but, in the majority of cases, expansion clubs need to walk before they can run.

Simon Mitchell ponders tactics on the sideline.

It’s the coach’s fault if they lose but the adulation is directed toward players when they win.

Phoenix has shown in the past the tail doesn’t wag the dog: in 2021, they took up Mitchell’s club option for the next year then re-signed him to a “prove it deal” for this season.

Mitchell and the Phoenix then assembled what is inarguably the club’s most-talented squad, with former NBA man Alan Williams and highly-rated guards Gary Browne and Trey Kell II joining Mitch Creek and Ryan Broekhoff and company in the Heartland.

But the injury curse continued to bite throughout the year. Kell, Browne and Broekhoff all endured interrupted — or non-existent — pre-seasons, which developed into extended stretches on the sidelines during the serious stuff.

The Phoenix will do their due diligence. Coaching legend Brian Goorjian is likely to get a call. Maybe they speak to former Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson — as Brisbane did — who is an assistant coach in Toronto.

Last year Creek, with the leverage of his own contract negotiations, was vocal in campaigning for Mitchell to secure another season on the sidelines.

But the superstar has two more years to run on that deal and, while he left no doubt what he wants to see happen, he was more considered in his response to questions about his coach’s future.

“People don’t realise what he (Mitchell) sacrifices from his family, his wife, his kids,” Creek said.

“He’s stood up in times of adversity and been a stellar coach.

Simon Mitchell gets fired up.

“I’ve been with him from day one, he brought me in here and I’ll stick by him.

“If it was my choice, I’d sign the contract and let’s move in a direction to get better but, there’s processes, and I know it will be done professionally.

“We’ve gone through a lot together so far but I’m really proud I’ve been able to do it with him.”

Mitchell sports a combative demeanour on the sidelines but, behind the brick veneer, there is a deep thinker who has a genuine love for family and every one of his players. There were emotions in the locker room on Thursday night after his side’s loss. He probably won’t admit it, but he appeared to have shed a tear before he entered the media room for an at-times solemn post-game press conference.

“We wanted to share a little bit of time together because this thing, once it ends, goes fast and it was a special group — one of the most beautiful groups I’ve ever been a part of, which probably adds to the disappointment we weren’t able to close that game out,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell was hired by South East Melbourne after spending time as an assistant under Dean Vickerman at Melbourne United. A key for the Phoenix was his connection to the south east region as a basketball administrator.

Whatever happens next, the “boy from Watsonia” will always have a special place in the Heartland as the club’s inaugural coach.

Simon Mitchell’s future as Phoenix coach is uncertain.

EX-NBA MAN INKS NEW PHOENIX DEAL

—Michael Randall

South East Melbourne has celebrated its return to postseason play by inking hugely popular man-in-the-middle Alan Williams to a two-year contract extension.

The rough and tumble dreadlocked monster has been a dominant force on the court and has fallen in love with Australia.

The former NBA man said he jumped at the chance to return after club boss Tommy Greer floated the idea.

“I talked to my agent and I was like, ‘yeah, I’d love to be back’,” Williams told News Corp.

“I wanted the security of multiple years and I want to be able to really have an impact on this franchise and the NBL.

“I feel like a two-year deal shows my commitment.”

Alan Williams has signed a two-year extension at South East Melbourne.

Almost everyone who has interacted with Williams since he arrived Down Under at the start of NBL23 is touched in some way by the former Phoenix Sun’s kindness — or dazzled by his huge, pearly-white smile.

“I’m thankful the fans are loving me, I love them back,” he said.

“I’m a player that feeds off of energy and it’s just always been a thing to me to try to immediately impact the community in which I’m in.

“There’s a bigger understanding of what sport means to different people and I take that responsibility and put it on my shoulders and try to give everybody the experience that they’re desiring, that being a positive outlook, someone who works really hard and somebody who truly does care.”

BEST YET TO COME

The 203cm, 120kg beast is the most-vocal player on the Phoenix practice court and an in-game hype machine who has shouldered a massive load as MVP finalist Mitch Creek’s right-hand man.

Big Sauce relishes the dirty work and, while he doesn’t play above the rim so much, his savvy and nose for rebounds has helped him lead the league at 9.6 per game.

Ryan Broekhoff is getting closer by the day to suiting up for the Phoenix. Picture: Getty Images

Add 16.6 points per night on 54 per cent shooting and a couple of assists and you have a unique talent who, at 30, is enjoying his basketball prime.

But the Arizona native says his best in the NBL is yet to come amid the possibility of playing in another league during the Aussie break.

“I don’t think I’ve reached the highest level that I can play. There were some instances throughout the season I struggled, just with the adjustments and understanding the different nuances that come with playing in a different league,” he said.

“I’ve figured it out and now it’s about working on my game and really finetuning it so I can hopefully put up some more monster numbers and bring championships here to the club.

“Whatever I feel like gives me the best opportunity to come back to Australia in August and really be the best version of myself I can possibly be, that’s what I’ll do.”

CONFIDENCE, MAN

The Phoenix are 12-3 on the season when their regular starting line-up is healthy, a fact Greer says gives motivation to bring back its core, which includes imports Gary Browne and Trey Kell.

“I’ve made no bones about the fact we love the roster that we have,” Greer said.

“We think it can win championships. It’s been proven when all our guys are on the floor, we’re one of the toughest teams in the league to beat.”

DON’T SLEEP ON ‘CATS

The Phoenix, on Thursday night, host a do-or-die play-in game against Perth Wildcats at John Cain Arena, with growing optimism barometer Ryan Broekhoff will have recovered enough to rejoin the squad after he missed the past three games with an adductor injury.

Bryce Cotton looms large for South East Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

Sauce isn’t banking on another 21-point demolition like the last time the Wildcats visited.

“We’re expecting a dogfight — it’s one of the more-prominent teams in the NBL coming in with arguably one of the best imports ever to play in the NBL in Bryce Cotton and a bunch of guys who can really light it up,” he said.

“Our mindset has to be, defensively, try to slow them down and win the battle on the rebounds again.

“It’s awesome, we get a home game, get in front of the Firepit and the great Phoenix fans again.”

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DO IT THE HARD WAY

Williams said the Phoenix were spurred on by the prospect of winning a championship the hardest way — they face a pair of elimination games to even make it to the semi-finals.

“Obviously, you’d like to be able to sit in the semi finals and kind of wait and see what happens, but I would want the easy way at all,” he said.

“This would be the best way to do it and it would really tie into our story at the end of it all if we’re able to go all the way.”

Originally published as NBL contract and movement news: Which players, coaches are coming and going from your club