Three-time champ reveals how close he came to quitting

Corey Webster has admitted he almost walked away from the game a year ago, before backing himself for one last push back to the top.

That push has landed him in Adelaide, with the 37-year-old signing with the 36ers on Tuesday morning as an injury replacement for a side in desperate need of scoring.

Webster arrives with 286 NBL games' experience across two clubs and three championships with the New Zealand Breakers, and he's not done yet.

Across 13 NBL seasons, Webster has averaged 11.2 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists per game, peaking at 19.6 points a game in his most prolific season with the Breakers.

"A year ago, I was so close to retiring ... but something told me to hold on," Webster wrote on Instagram.

"In that moment I made a decision, and a promise to myself to get back to the top. I put in mad work, I got stuck into the grind - day in and day out - serious hard work!

"I didn't listen to the haters, the doubters, those saying I was finished, that I couldn't do it."

Since leaving Perth at the end of NBL24, Webster has kept himself sharp in the NZNBL with the Auckland Tuatara and Manawatu Jets, averaging 18.7 points per game for the Jets.

That form earned him a recall to the Tall Blacks, and in August he dropped 22 points against Syria in a FIBA World Cup qualifier alongside new 36ers teammate and the player he'll be replacing in the short term, Flynn Cameron.

It's another chapter in a professional career that began with the Breakers in 2008, when Joe Ingles was still in his first NBL stint with the South Dragons, and has since taken Webster through nine countries.

"To all my young hoopers on this journey, never give up on yourself, push yourself every single day," he wrote.

"The work you do when no one is watching will soon be the reason everyone is watching."

Adelaide hosts Melbourne United for Ignite Cup points on Wednesday night, with the club confirming Webster will play.