With each new NBL season comes a fresh wave of talent set to grace the Australian hardwood for the first time.
And this crop is as intriguing as ever. It features everything from an over-900-game NBA veteran, budding Australian talent, and a series of high-level imports who all bring something different to the table.
Here, we highlight a few of the newcomers set to make a big impact for their respective teams heading into the 2025-26 NBL season: what makes them intriguing, where they've come from, and what we should expect from them.
JaVale McGee (Illawarra Hawks)
Yes, JaVale McGee will be arguably the biggest drawcard of any player in the NBL -- he's a 16-year NBA veteran and three-time champion -- but it has to be stressed that this signing wasn't one driven by publicity to get a high-profile 37-year-old on his last legs; he clearly still has a lot of juice left, and has the potential to be a really impactful two-way player for the Hawks.
McGee is coming off a stint in Puerto Rico, where he averaged 17.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game for Vaqueros de Bayamon, who were the best defensive team in the league. Now, it's difficult to evaluate how someone's play in the Puerto Rican league translates to the NBL, but there were enough indicators from McGee to see that he's still up to it athletically, and hasn't gotten any smaller.
In the NBL, McGee projects as a physical and athletic point of difference; there aren't many, if any, players in the NBL who can match his size, so he'll always have that advantage on the floor. That's likely to be clear on the defensive end, where McGee is a safe bet to finish the season as the league's leading shot-blocker, and heaven knows how many attempts he'll deter simply from his presence in the paint.
McGee will likely announce himself quite early as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and has the mobility and size to score in a heap of different ways on the offensive end.
"Just a dominant presence," Hawks head coach Justin Tatum told ESPN.
"There's no illegal defence here, so he's gonna clog the lane, he's gonna sit up there and make difficult shots for everybody else.
"Then, on the offensive end, we can just put the ball up anywhere as we break defences down, and hopefully he can just catch a lob or be on the back-side. I'm really excited for how he's gonna be the communicator on the defensive end."
Mason Jones (Perth Wildcats)
Talk about a first impression.
Jones' first preseason game for the Wildcats saw him drop 22 points and seven assists in just under 24 minutes, while shooting 7-of-10 from downtown. That's impressive in its own right, and doesn't even truly paint the picture of how high-level of a creator the 27-year-old is; he would've had five or six potential assists, to go with his impressive statline.
A unique pressure and expectation will almost-perennially exist for Mason Jones in Perth, because he's ostensibly the replacement for Bryce Cotton, who spent nine seasons with the Wildcats, leading them to three titles and winning five MVPs in the process. Replacing Cotton from both a basketball and emotional standpoint is always going to be a challenge, but Jones has all of the tools to, at the very least, tick that first box.
The 6'4 guard is coming off a stint in the NBA G-League where he led the Stockton Kings to a championship, and walked away with the Grand Final MVP award. He averaged 23.6 points and 7.8 assists per game over the course of the last G-League season, excelling with the ball in his hands, where he can expertly come off on-balls to create for himself and others. The most impressive thing about Jones' game is the efficiency: over four seasons in the G-League, he's a 43.6% three-point shooter, on 6.1 attempts per game. In any league, that's an incredibly impressive number.
There are questions for every import in the NBL, and Jones isn't immune to them. Can he defend at a high level here? He can be turnover prone; will that be an issue? Can he click with a Wildcats team that has some passionate characters?
We'll see how he answers those, but what's clear is that Jones projects to be a high-level scorer and creator in the NBL from day one, with his production likely to warrant his lofty price tag.
John Brown III (South East Melbourne Phoenix)
In Brown III, the South East Melbourne Phoenix have an import who can make an argument for being the best defender in the league. That's how highly regarded he is on that end of the floor.
The 6'8 forward can guard multiple positions, plays up and in, and is seemingly always in position to wall up or take a charge: "I'm there every time on defence," Brown III told ESPN.
Brown III embodies the high-pressure style of play Josh King wants his teams to operate in, and has the potential to be a Draymond Green or Marcus Smart type of defensive playmaker for the Phoenix. In what we saw in the preseason, Brown III is also clearly the type of complementary forward who's going to get his team multiple extra possessions each game, whether it's by crashing the glass, taking charges, or winning 50-50 balls.
The 33-year-old is coming off multiple seasons playing for teams in the EuroLeague, and while he's dealt with some injuries of late, he still brings high-level basketball experience -- and a whole lot of juice on both ends -- to the table.
Reyne Smith (Cairns Taipans)
Smith is the first-year Australian player most worth keeping an eye on this coming NBL season, largely because his role is expected to be substantial from the get-go.
The Tasmanian joined the Cairns Taipans following a senior year at the University of Louisville where he averaged 13.1 points per game, shooting 37.9% from 3PT (9.1 3PA), and he'll immediately slot into the starting two-guard spot for Adam Forde's team.
There'll be questions early on for the 22-year-old going into his first professional season. How well can he defend at this level? What sort of ball-carrying can he bring to the table at this point in his career? How will he handle the physicality of the NBL? An effective season at Louisville in the ACC is a good indicator that Smith could limit how long his teething process is; but one thing's for sure: he can shoot the hell out of the ball.
Shooting is one of those things that translates between levels, so Smith should be effective from day one, and don't be surprised if, even though he should be regarded as a no-leave shooter, he gets a ton of good looks. Jack McVeigh leads a Taipans starting unit that has a heap of offensive firepower, so there's a good chance Smith is the beneficiary of opposing teams loading up on other guys. Put simply: there are a lot of things in place for Smith to be really productive in his first season in the NBL.
Izaiah Brockington (New Zealand Breakers)
The New Zealand Breakers are perhaps falling under the radar as one of the teams that could end up as the most enjoyable to watch, and Brockington is likely to be a big reason why.
The Breakers' new import plays with a pop and a bounce that makes him extremely dynamic, and a perfect fit next to Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Gone are the days in New Zealand where they played slow to accommodate Tacko Fall; with Jackson-Cartwright and Brockington starting in the backcourt, the Breakers are guaranteed to play with a whole lot of pace.
Brockington announced himself to Australians early, winning the Ray Borner Medal as MVP of the 2025 NBL Blitz, where he averaged 20 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game over two preseason contests. Now, we won't see that level of production every game from Brockington, but it was a helpful window into the type of impact the 6'4 guard has the potential to bring on any given night.
Tyson Walker (Melbourne United)
If there's one thing that's stood out over Melbourne United's preseason thus far, it's that Tyson Walker is something this team hasn't had in a while.
The primary ball-carriers for United over the last few seasons have been Matthew Dellavedova and Shea Ili; both of whom are high-level point guards in the NBL and play at a fast pace, but don't have the self-creation we're accustomed to seeing from imports in the same position.
Walker brings that skillset to the table. The 6'1 guard is extremely quick and looks to have an elite ability to use his handle to get to his spots, while also showing to be an effective three-level scorer and spot-up shooter. Like a lot of American guards are the league, Walker can manufacture advantages seemingly out of nothing, giving United some security when things get stagnant in the half-court -- something they didn't have much of over the last few seasons -- while still allowing them to play with the pace Dean Vickerman likes his teams operating in.
Walker isn't a natural point guard, but he brings this level of competitiveness, and has enough of a rounded skillset, that allows him to plug and play in either backcourt spot and still be effective.