Honouring NBL Legend Mark Leader

The entire NBL community mourns the loss of former NBL player Mark Leader. Our thoughts are with Leader’s family and friends.

The 6’4 American, born and raised in Idaho, came to Australia in 1982 to pursue his professional basketball career, which originally started with the Ulverstone Redhoppers in the North West Basketball Union in Tasmania.

Playing 327 games in the NBL, Leader scored over 4000 career points and won two championships with the North Melbourne Giants.

Leader made his NBL debut with the Devonport Warriors in 1983 at 23-years-old where he averaged 22.1 points and 10.5 rebounds in his first season, before going on to act as a player/coach at just 24-years-old in his second season with the Warriors.

Leader’s best statistical campaign came in 1984, when he averaged 28.7 points, 14.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.7 blocks for Devonport.

Due to the Warriors folding in 1985, Leader played with the Geelong Supercats in the 1986 and 1987 seasons. He averaged 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds for the Supercats in 1987.

After that, Leader shifted to the North Melbourne Giants in 1988 where he found a stable home in the NBL, before putting away his basketball shoes and retiring in 1995.

Leader won two championships with the Giants, the first in 1989, and again in 1994, where Leader was the only Giants player remaining from the 1989 title.

Leader was the first player to have four triple-doubles in the league and will be remembered as one of the most versatile players of his generation.