Former King Eyes Eventual Sydney Return

Jae’Sean Tate is a name that will be familiar to most NBL fans.

Undrafted out of college, Tate cut his teeth professionally in Belgium before coming to the NBL with the Sydney Kings. It was through that launching pad provided by the Kings that he earned an opportunity with the Houston Rockets, where the now 27-year-ol still plies his trade.

Tate made the All-NBL first team in his sole season on Australian shores, and he backed that up with a selection to the NBA All-Rookie first team in 2021. Since his time in Sydney he’s become a key member of the Rockets organisation and started 77 games last season.

It’s that time in Sydney that Tate looks most fondly on though, and he says the style of the league helped prepare him for a career in the NBA.

“Australia is a very fast and physical game,” Tate told The Ballers Magazine. “If I had the chance to choose the type of atmosphere I would play in, it would be a physical and fast-paced game.

“That’s what the NBA is and that’s exactly what Australia implemented.

“We were running the same plays I run with Houston – the same style of offence. Open, five-out, just run the floor.

“That really helped me because it sped the game back up for me.

After heading to the Rockets alongside for Kings head coach Will Weaver Tate has kept one eye on the NBL, and says he’d love to head back to Sydney if it all fell into place.

Tate playing for the Kings in 2019.

“Australia is by far one of my highlights,” he said. “When I’m old and can barely get up and down there I would love to come back and just bee around the guys because the energy, the organisation in Sydney – from top to bottom – was great.

“We had a really good team. I played with Andrew Bogut, Casper Ware who’s really well known over there … we went to the finals.

“The rising stars program over there just brought light to the very good basketball players down there.”