Key Free Agents to Define NBL Off-Season

The NBL Finals are in full flow, and while there are still four teams remaining to contend for the NBL23 championship, at this point in the season one eye inevitably moves towards the potential for every team to strengthen in the off-season.

A list of the impending NBL free agents was released by News Corp this morning – and over 50 players are out of contract come season’s end.

Headlined by the likes of All-NBL First Teamers Derrick Walton Jr and Milton Doyle and local stars Keanu Pinder and Will McDowell-White, every NBL team's off-season could be made or broken in free agency.

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Peter Hooley says it’s a pair of key local talents who are still in the running for a championship that interest him the most.

“Will McDowell-White is the one, for me, that I’m really intrigued to see what happens,” Hooley said on NBL Today. “He loves Mody Maor, loves the Breakers, but he’ll be one that really gets a lot of interest from another team.

“Even Keanu Pinder. You don’t like to say it but what Adam Forde did last season when he announced he’d take a pay-cut to keep him, then he goes and puts on an NBL calibre season.

“It’s going to be harder and harder to keep him, especially when we see what guys like Nick Kay and John Mooney have done and gone overseas to rake in the big dollars.”

Melbourne United’s off-season looms as potentially the most interesting free agency period from a club perspective.

The bulk of United’s big rotations are off contract, along with import pair Rayjon Tucker and Xavier Rathan-Mayes.

Hooley believes United need to take care of a pair of key positions before considering re-signing Rayjon Tucker.

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“We were talking about a few weeks ago that you have to sign Marcus Lee now,” Hooley said. Marcus Lee has to re-sign, but then you think about then there’s no Isaac Humphries.

“Ariel Hukporti is likely come back – he’s said he’d like to – so if they’re the two big men (Hukporti and Humphries) then where does Marcus Lee fit?

“How is Shea Ili going to look? Do you need to have a backup prepared if Shea Ili can’t go the entire season?

“There’s a lot to think about and those positions are ones you need to figure out first before you go and make those other ones.”

The NBL Finals continue on Wednesday night when the Kings host the Taipans - live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies