There has never been as many Australians and Kiwis across the NBA as there is now.
They cover every type of player, too, from stars on high-profile teams, role players on contenders, promising talent on rebuilding rosters, and the two-way guys set to split their time between the NBA and G-League teams.
Will Josh Giddey take the new opportunity afforded to him by the horns and emerge as a star? Is Dyson Daniels ready to take a leap? Can a change of scenery lift Josh Green to another level? What version of Ben Simmons will we see?
The questions are endless for the 14 Australians – and, of course, one Kiwi – going into the 2024-25 NBA regular season, so we’ve taken a look at what to expect for each of them.
Josh Giddey – Chicago Bulls
Giddey is entering the most important season of his short career.
The point guard was traded to Chicago Bulls in the offseason with quite an explicit expectation that he would be their starting point guard and floor leader. Giddey was extension eligible this offseason, but it doesn’t appear as though terms will be agreed, so this is an opportunity to show his worth over the regular season as he approaches restricted free agency.
Simply put: Giddey will have the opportunity to demonstrate his worth on a team that’s not expected to win a heap of games, ahead of the most lucrative contract negotiations of his career thus far. Where the Bulls are in their journey as a franchise – right on the cusp of a rebuild – fits where Giddey currently is in his development, so the fit is ideal for both parties.
Josh Giddey will swap the Oklahoma Thunder jersey for the Chicago Bulls this NBA season. Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Over Giddey’s time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, we saw enough examples of what the Bulls are hoping to see in their big point guard, and he offered everyone a reminder during the Paris Olympics, where the Australian was a triple-double threat every time he hit the floor for the Boomers.
In Chicago, Giddey will be flanked by some intriguing offensive talent: Coby White and Zach LaVine on the wings, with Nikola Vucevic as a partner coming off on-balls. An improvement in his shooting would bode well for Giddey’s prospective new contract – he shot over 47% from downtown during the Olympics – but the real key to success for the 22-year-old will be proving that he can be an effective floor leader and connector for a reasonably good NBA team.
Dante Exum – Dallas Mavericks
There’s a good argument that Danté Exum is coming off the best season of his NBA career.
The 6’6 combo guard perfectly filled the role of a complementary wing alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, playing exceptional defence while shooting 49.1% from downtown (on 2.0 attempts a game).
There’ll be competition in his position on a Mavericks team that’s aiming to get to a second straight NBA Finals. The team acquired Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Quenton Grimes over the offseason; but, while all of those players arguably do a better job with singular skills compared to Exum, the Australian is the more rounded two-way player of the bunch.
Exum played just under 20 minutes a game last season – averaging 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per contest – and, despite some of the Mavericks’ offseason additions, he should get roughly the same amount of opportunity. This is the second and final year of the ‘prove it’ type of contract he signed ahead of last season, so Exum could be in for a substantial pay rise if he’s able to produce and demonstrate the prototypical wing three-and-D skillset he’s developed over time.
Josh Green – Charlotte Hornets
Josh Green was part of the multi-team deal that ultimately sent Thompson to Dallas, and it’ll likely end up as a blessing in disguise for the young wing.
Green ended up in Charlotte, where he should walk into substantial minutes on a team not expecting to be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Why that’s particularly important for Green is because he’s really only been in a situation where winning has been the priority – he was drafted by the Mavericks, who had Doncic as their floor general – so there’s never been an opportunity for the Australian to go out there and explore his game. That means being able to try new things, explore outside ones skill set, and make mistakes, with an eye toward growing.
That opportunity should absolutely be there for Green with the Hornets. There’s a good chance he’ll start for Charles Lee‘s team, playing alongside young creators in LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, with the hope to explore more than just the pigeon-holed three-and-D game he was resigned to in Dallas.
Green is coming off a season with the Mavericks where he averaged 8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game, and there’s a good chance that output increases in his first season as a Hornet because his usage should take a leap.
The 23-year-old is coming off an Olympic campaign where he barely saw the floor for the Boomers, so he’ll likely relish the opportunity for extended, consistent minutes in Charlotte, where we’ll finally get a real sense of what his ceiling as a basketball player is.
Joe Ingles – Minnesota Timberwolves
Signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves gave Joe Ingles an opportunity to play a role – both on and off the court – for a team hoping to better last season’s Conference Finals run.
The Australian is effectively the Timberwolves’ Kyle Anderson replacement, bringing a similar level of speed and creation ability, but with an additional high-level three-point shooting element.
The floor spacing was something the Timberwolves could’ve used through the playoffs last season, and Ingles is a 41% three-point shooter in the NBA, coming off a 43.5% season from beyond the arc. The 37-year-old fills a need for the team.
Ingles also has an existing relationship with two of the Timberwolves’ starters – Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley – with the trio playing alongside each other with the Utah Jazz. Apart from the shooting, Ingles brings some secondary creation and ball-handling, and his chemistry with Gobert in the pick-and-roll gives the Timberwolves some unique options offensively.
“It’s exciting,” Ingles told Australian reporters in July, immediately after agreeing to the deal.
“It’s obviously a really good team. Western Conference finals this year. Just going in there fully understanding the role they have for me. Trying to help Rudy, trying to help Ant, trying to help all these guys get better and hopefully go further.
“When the opportunity came up and you speak more in depth about the basketball side, especially with the stuff I’m saying – you still wanna play, you still wanna compete – it’s a basketball opportunity that was too good to give up.”
The native of Adelaide is coming off a season with the Orlando Magic, where he averaged 4.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
Dyson Daniels – Atlanta Hawks
Here’s another Australian who was traded in the offseason, in a move that should bode extremely well for him.
Dyson Daniels was in the middle of Olympic training camp when he was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks, with the skill set he brings to the table expected to fit quite well with what the team already has on its roster. More specifically, there’s a theoretical partnership between Daniels and Trae Young that could develop. Daniels is a high-level point-of-attack defender, next to a player in Young who doesn’t excel on that end of the floor, so he fills a real need for Quin Snyder’s team.
The 6’8 guard is coming off an extremely impressive Olympic campaign – averaging 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game for the Boomers, shooting 38.5 percent from downtown – and the role he played for Australia could translate to what he’ll do with the Hawks. The dominance on the defensive side is obvious, but his improved spot-up shooting is a big plus, as well as his ability to be another ball carrier on the floor.
Dyson Daniel will be looking to make a defensive impact to Atlanta. Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
“I think playing off guys like Trae,” Daniels told reporters during training camp.
“Being that kind of secondary playmaker, being able to, you know, play off his gravity, when he’s got the ball, a lot of defence is going to be counted to him, so once he gets rid of it, it’s being able to make quick decisions, get downhill, and shoot the ball, kind of just filling the gaps and playing my role.
“I think, you know, make winning plays as well. You’re gonna crash the offensive glass and they’re getting offensive rebounds, tipping the ball out, whatever it takes. But playing off a guy like Trae, especially, this is about making quick decisions when he gets rid of it.”
There’s a good chance Daniels starts on the wing for the Hawks this season, but there are also backup point guard minutes that he’s expected to eat; the 21-year-old in a position to show off his entire skillset going into an off-season where he’ll become extension-eligible.
Patty Mills – Utah Jazz
This is year 16 for Patty Mills in the NBA, which, for a small point guard, is incredible in its own right.
The 36-year-old signed with the Utah Jazz for this season, joining a team that’s toward the beginning of its rebuild process, where he can be a leader and mentor for the franchise’s young players. That’s largely what Mills was brought in to be; he’s an NBA champion and long-time pro, so a team that will have six players from the last two drafts on their roster needs that sort of veteran in the locker room. There’s also the added bonus of Mills having an existing relationship with Jazz head coach Will Hardy from their time at the San Antonio Spurs together.
“It’s exciting,” Mills said at the Jazz’s Media Day.
“I feel like now in this environment, this learning environment, I’m really able to help these guys. It’s something that I feel is one of my strengths, being able to guide.”
Despite being signed to play that role, there still should be some minutes on offer for Mills. That expectation should be somewhat tempered, given where Mills is in his career, but there could be some backup point guard opportunities behind Keyonte George, while the Australian is still an elite spot-up shooter, so that may earn him some run, too.
Matisse Thybulle – Portland Trail Blazers
There’s a logjam on the wing in Portland, and Matisse Thybulle may well be the biggest victim of it.
The Trail Blazers traded for Deni Avdija this offseason, while Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, and Jerami Grant will also likely see wing minutes for Chauncey Billups’ team. Thybulle brings a defensive capacity that’s unique to that group – other than Grant, who excels on that end of the floor too – but there’s a better chance than not that he’s the one who stick on the bench.
Matters have been made worse for Thybulle because of some knee inflammation that the Trail Blazers say will have him miss three-to-four weeks to start the new season.
Thybulle is coming off a season with the Trail Blazers where he averaged 5.4 points and 1.7 steals, in 22.9 minutes per game, but this is a team that will likely prioritise it’s younger, up-and-coming talent, and the 27-year-old doesn’t match that description. The nature of the way Thybulle plays – how he guards, and the energy he brings – means that you’d bet on him finding a way to crack the rotation, but it’ll likely be a tall order.
Matisse Thybulle of the Portland Trail Blazers. Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images
Duop Reath – Portland Trail Blazers
The same goes for Duop Reath, who’s in a situation in Portland where it’s tough to see where consistent minutes will come from.
The way Reath played in his rookie season for the Trail Blazers was inspired, averaging 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, but this is a franchise that has Deandre Ayton as its starting centre and just drafted Donovan Clingan with the seventh overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. That makes a 28-year-old Reath the third-string centre, which would substantially cut into his minutes.
Reath’s ability to really stretch the floor and also defend reasonably well at the NBA level makes him a point of difference to the other bigs on the Trail Blazers’ roster, so some minutes will definitely open up for him; the franchise does like him, which is why they signed him to that three-year deal ahead of last season.
The 2025-26 year of that deal is fully non-guaranteed, though, so Reath will be hoping to build off his impressive last season to prove he still belongs at this level.
Steven Adams – Houston Rockets
If it feels like you haven’t watched Steven Adams play basketball in a while, it’s because he hasn’t hit the floor since January in 2023.
The Kiwi big-man suffered a significant knee injury that kept him out of the entire 2023-24 NBA season, the middle of which he was traded to the Rockets at the deadline.
That brings us to the present, where Adams is ostensibly back to full health and ready to back up one of the NBA’s most promising young centres. The 31-year-old will play behind Alperen Sengun in the Rockets’ rotation, providing everything we know he can: an elite screener, finisher around the rim, passer, and defensive anchor.
Adams averaged 8.6 points and 11.5 rebounds per game during his last mostly-healthy season in the league, shooting just under 60% from the field. That, of course, came with bigger minutes and higher usage, so there should be an expectation that those numbers will dip; his impact, however, assuming he is a similar physical specimen as we’ve come to know, should be the same.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on what the Rockets may do with Adams when the trade deadline rolls around. He’s on an expiring $12.6 million deal and, as a functional centre with playoff experience, he’s a prime candidate to be off-loaded to a contender.
The Rockets will be a team to watch for Australian and Kiwi basketball fans, because Adams will be vying for those backup centre minutes with Jock Landale.
Jock Landale – Houston Rockets
Speaking of, Landale is in for an interesting season with the Rockets.
He’s likely to start the season as the third string centre, behind Sengun and Adams, but there’s a chance he works his way into consistent minutes.
Just look at last season. Landale got limited opportunities to start the season, but his minutes doubled after the All-Star break, and he averaged 9.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in the month of April, emerging as a real catalyst for the Rockets’ late-but-unsuccessful playoff push.
With Sengun still young and Adams coming off a significant injury, you’d trust the work rate of Landale to ultimately crack the rotation in Houston. After an extremely impressive Olympic campaign and now three NBA seasons under his belt, Landale has settled in as a reliable, functional big-man in the league.
That also makes him, like his Kiwi teammate, potential trade bait in February. Landale’s contract is non-guaranteed next season, so it’s, from a practical standpoint, expiring. He’s another big-man who could potentially help a contender on a rental.
Ben Simmons – Brooklyn Nets
What will Ben Simmons look like this season? How healthy is he? Is he at all close to the All-Star version of himself from three years ago?
These are all pertinent questions for Simmons, and ones we should get an answer to relatively quickly.
Here’s the context on Simmons. He’s played in 189 of 246 potential regular-season games over the last three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, partially as part of a trade request gone awry, but largely because of an ongoing back injury. The Australian had a second microscopic partial discectomy in March, and played four of the Nets’ five preseason games going into the 2024-25 NBA campaign. This is also the final season of Simmons’ 5-year, $177 million deal.
Ben Simmons is looking to find this best this season with Brooklyn. Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images
Some of the early returns from the preseason have actually been positive. There’s an obvious athletic dip from the best Simmons we’ve seen of Simmons over the years – not surprising, given the nature of his recent ailments – but the Nets have looked better with him on the floor as another ball-carrier and playmaker next to Dennis Schroeder.
The idea of slotting Simmons into the ‘point guard’ pigeon-hole has been thrown out the window, though. He sometimes initiates offence, but is often more effective playing the role of a traditional big, rolling to the basket and getting scores around the paint.
How effective he can be consistently through a regular season, and how his body holds up, is the big mystery. There’s still the skeleton of a smart, high-level basketball player, a mixture of his athletic decline and questions around his durability will likely be the determinant of success.
It’s a contract year for Simmons – which makes him eminently tradeable – so it’ll be fascinating to see how he performs, and what his third contract in the league could potentially look like.
Johnny Furphy – Indiana Pacers
There should be a mixture of tempered expectations and reasonable hope with regard to Johnny Furphy’s rookie season in Indiana.
We didn’t see Furphy hit the floor for any of the Indiana Pacers’ preseason games due to an ankle injury, but he did have an impressive Summer League, averaging 14.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.8 steals a game.
There’s a really useful NBA player in the 6’9 wing, showing the ability to hit shots off the catch, and exhibiting high-level athleticism and a real nose for the ball as a rebounder. The question is whether we see much of that this coming season.
The Pacers are coming off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and have largely the same mix of players. Going into the season, Furphy will be behind Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, and Ben Sheppard when it comes to Rick Carlisle’s potential wing rotation. There just are minutes for Furphy right now, which is why we’ll likely see him play a decent amount of games in the G-League with the Indiana Mad Ants.
The hope comes with Carlisle being more open to playing his young players, like we saw with Sheppard during the playoffs last season. If there’s a need for Furphy’s shooting on the move, or just another athletic body to throw out there on a team that’ll play at a speed that warrants a deeper rotation, then this is the coach who may seriously consider that.
Aussie’s should be excited for Johnny Furphy’s debut year in the NBA. Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
Jack McVeigh (Houston Rockets), Alex Ducas (Oklahoma City Thunder), and Luke Travers (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Three Australians will enter the new NBA season as two-way players.
Two years after being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Luke Travers has finally headed over to the team on a two-way deal. The 6’8 forward is coming off a season with Melbourne United where he averaged 12.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He’ll split his time between the Cavaliers and their G-League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge.
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Jack McVeigh has remained on his two-way deal as the season comes to a start, showing his worth for the Houston Rockets over their preseason. The Rockets are a team that will want to win games now, so having the 28-year-old scoring specialist as an option makes a lot of sense. The team has left their 15th roster spot open, so there’s still a chance – however slight – that McVeigh could earn that. As it stands, though, he’ll split his time between the Rockets and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Alex Ducas is on a two-way deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, signing with the team immediately after the 2024 NBA Draft came to an end. The Thunder are entering this season as one of the favourites to win it all, so the 6’7 wing out of Geraldton, Western Australia will be plying his trade with the Oklahoma City Blue. The benefit of the Thunder is that their G-League team operates in the same city as the NBA team, so the opportunity is there for Ducas to get work in with the main group and learn under the same structure.
Source: espn.com