Every week, ESPN's Olgun Uluc gives you a rundown of everything he's hearing around Australian basketball: the intel, the moves, the conversations, and the numbers behind them.
The word around the league is that the New Zealand Breakers are set to lock in a known commodity.
With Parker Jackson-Cartwright out for the season with a stress fracture in his tibia, the Breakers need a new starting point guard, with the timing of the injury the only silver lining, because it allows the Breakers to quickly find an injury replacement for Jackson-Cartwright while the season is still in its early stages.
The Breakers are finalising a deal with import Skylar Mays for the remainder of the 2026-27 NBL season, sources told ESPN, with the former South East Melbourne Phoenix guard set to join Gordie Herbert's team.
Mays recently parted ways with the Phoenix, and the Breakers were quick to call and find out whether the 29-year-old would be interested in staying in the NBL.
He was, and so expect that deal to be signed imminently.
Across 11 games this season, Mays averaged 11.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, shooting 38.6% from the field and 31.5% from 3PT.
The 29-year-old was the 50th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2020 NBA Draft out of LSU. He played 105 NBA games with the Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 4.3 points and 1.7 assists a game.
His best run came late in the 2022-23 season, where Mays signed with an injury-hit Blazers team and started all six games he played, averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 assists and shooting 46.2% from three.
That stretch included a career-high 24 points against Memphis. Before arriving in the NBL, he had stints in Europe, including with Turkish club Fenerbahçe, and in the NBA G League.
Refs' corner (Ops edition!): The NBL and ABPA aren't in lockstep
This section will usually cover the notable comments from the weekly media conference with the NBL's head of referees, Scott Butler. This week it pivots ever so slightly.
That's because the league's COO and head of basketball operations, Vince Crivelli, was made available, and we had the chance to ask for clarity on several issues, including decals, officiating, and expansion.
We're told one part of Crivelli's comments has drawn some blowback behind the scenes.
Here's part of what Crivelli told media on Monday about decals, which has been a hot topic to start the season.
"Our court graphics suppliers confirm that the playing-surface laminate we use, its production and its installation are all unchanged," Crivelli said. "All of the products are currently FIBA Level 1 compliant, and the last batch of testing was done in April 2026. I say that because we're not the only competition to use decals, and there are a few competitions where the exact same decals are used.
"So we work with everybody we can to do all we can to make sure the surface and the work environment are safe, and we absolutely take all of those matters seriously when they arise through those channels."
Crivelli later added that "the ABPA are aware of all of the steps we take, and are in lockstep with us on this matter."
That last line is what has caused the issue. The Australian Basketball Players' Association (ABPA) and its player delegates are not in lockstep with the NBL, sources told ESPN. After Crivelli's comments were made public, the NBL acknowledged the error and privately apologised to the ABPA, sources said.
Both the ABPA and NBL have been contacted for comment.
The ABPA continues to pose questions to the NBL around things like how slips are being tracked and whether that data is captured independently, along with comparisons between venues, and cleaning, maintenance, and laying protocols.
Slippery on-court sponsor decals have been a safety flashpoint in the NBL since at least 2021, when the Australian Basketball Players' Association pushed the league for action three times. Players have kept slipping on them this season, and coaches and the ABPA have again raised concerns with the league.
"Really disappointed to see another time a player slipped on a sticker," Brisbane Bullets head coach Will Weaver said after a game in early October. "It's really concerning to me about our players' health and safety on that and that's something that we've voiced and so I hope that changes are coming there."
By the numbers: Does the Phoenix's identity match their personnel?
Under head coach Josh King, the South East Melbourne Phoenix have a style.
We saw it last season. They played the possession game better than anyone else, perhaps better than anyone in league history. The Phoenix led the league in offensive rebound percentage (33.6%) and opponent turnover percentage (17.4%), and both numbers are among the highest we've seen in the NBL.
The philosophy is simple, though it demands a high work rate: play up the floor with aggression, apply pressure at all times, and crash the offensive glass whenever possible.
This season, those numbers have dropped to a 33.2% offensive rebound percentage (fourth in the NBL) and a 13.5% opponent turnover percentage (also fourth).
"We haven't proved that we can pressure and contain the ball in a while," King said after the Phoenix's loss to the Hawks on Wednesday.
"We're a pressure team, but we're not a contain team. And the blowbys are getting out of hand. They were out of hand on Sunday. So we have to, we have to figure some things out there."
So, what's the clear difference between last season's team and this one? The personnel is the easiest thing to point to. John Brown III was an extra-possession machine, both on the offensive glass and in winning 50-50 balls, while Owen Foxwell was one of the league's most effective full-court pickup guys. Last season, the Phoenix had six players in the top 15 for steal percentage: Brown, Hunter Maldonado, Malique Lewis, Nathan Sobey, Foxwell, and Daniel Foster. This season they have just one, Yannis Morin. Four of those six players are no longer on the roster, while Foster has been injured for a large portion of the season, and his absence has actually been noticeable.
The Phoenix's starting lineup continues to be, for the most part, effective enough on both ends playing within King's system; Dash Daniels has been the team's most impactful two-way player, while Morin and D'Shawn Schwartz have operated well in the high-pressure style of play. But, as soon as King dips into the bench, the style of play no longer suits the personnel. Anyone can pressure, it's just whether those players can do it effectively, and, in King's words, if they can also contain; lineups with two or more of Sobey, Angus Glover, Jordan Hunter, Akech Aliir, and Tanner Krebs probably aren't built to do both.
Over this three-game losing streak, the Phoenix have an average defensive rating of 129.2 (well below the league and their own average), and a lot of it has to do with their inability to effectively pressure the ball, where they're giving up bulk transition opportunities, which is leading to easy advantage creation and high shot quality for their opponents.
So, what can be done with those lineups? The answer probably isn't to abandon the pressure altogether. A team has an identity, and has to continue to lean into it. There's probably a happy medium, though, where King can continue to impose his philosophy while being adaptable to the roster he has. There are certain lineups that probably don't need to pressure as aggressively, and definitely can't be gambling, because of its inability to recover effectively. Maybe a lineup that includes two or more of those aforementioned names does sit back ever-so-slightly, so as not to be so vulnerable defensively; it allows for some grace, so King can tap into the high-level things on the other ends those guys bring to the table.
Not having an import point guard has hurt the Phoenix, to be sure -- their offence looked substantially less organised on Wednesday -- and we've seen glimpses of a high-powered team, which is why their losses have been relatively close. That indicates that any tweaks don't have to be too major; that even a minor adjustment could make a significant impact. Perhaps that's just the playstyle tweak, that King could make better use of the personnel he has at his disposal. Let's see if we see any tweaks.
Favourite plays of the week
In the future, this will be littered with more plays; in the meantime, enjoy the excellent ball movement from the Adelaide 36ers.
HOW'S THIS FOR A PASS?! 😮💨 Matt Kenyon with an outrageous pass in lead up to a John Jenkins three! Watch the #NBL on ESPN on Disney+ https://t.co/x1esqKut76
— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) November 12, 2026