NBL Greats Ponder Uncertain Futures

By Liam Santamaria

There’s a kind of rhythm to a typical NBL off-season.

It’s a beat that involves free agent signings, retirement announcements, import recruitments and then, from a certain point, teams start training for the upcoming season.

One step leads to the next along a familiar, well-trodden path.

Not this year, though. The 2020 off-season has taken the scenic route.

One group of players who have quietly been navigating this unclear off-season are the elder statesmen of the NBL; a bunch of veterans who have been surveying the landscape and pondering their playing futures. Along the way, they’ve been asking themselves the dreaded question: should I play on or should I call it a day?

Some have already made those calls.

NBL greats Kevin Lisch and Damian Martin, for example, announced their retirements some time ago. As did South East Melbourne duo Tai Wesley and Ben Madgen.

Others, like Melbourne’s Dave Barlow and Sydney’s Daniel Kickert, are locked and loaded for another season with their respective clubs.

There are a number, however, who are still considering their options.

Guys like David Andersen and Mika Vukona – enormous figures in Aussie and Kiwi hoops – as well as others such as four-time champ Alex Pledger, Hawks stalwart Tim Coenraad and Kings veteran Lucas Walker.

Heck, even Andrew Bogut sits within this group. The NBA champion and 2019 NBL MVP stated earlier this year that, given the uncertainty around the globe, any “concrete decisions” about his future are “too hard to be made at this point in time.”

All of these players are currently uncontracted but, six months into the off-season, none have officially announced their retirements.

“I haven’t set anything in stone yet,” Andersen told NBL Media.

“I’m not declaring retirement, I’m not saying I’m not playing. I’m just keeping myself in shape while enjoying a bit of a break with family and being around the home.

“It’s all up in the air so I’m not sure what will happen in the immediate future.”

Andersen has enjoyed a decorated 22-year pro career in the NBL, NBA and right across Europe. He’s an out-and-out legend of the game in this country and, despite turning 40 a few months ago, he’s not quite ready to hang his kicks up just yet.

“With all the uncertainty it puts you into a different thought process,” Andersen said.

“But I still love the game and I feel like I still can contribute in a number of ways. I’m always going to stay in shape and even if I don’t have anything at the beginning of the season, injuries and things happen and you never know, roster spots might open up.

“That kind of thing might happen and I’m always up for that. You just do what you can which is stay in shape, keep your body ready, talk to certain people around the game and see what opportunities pop up.

“Playing or non-playing, in Australia or overseas, I want to stay involved in the sport.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy 40th birthday to the man that has hardly aged since he made his NBL debut with the Hawks back in 1998, <a href="https://twitter.com/daveandersen13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@daveandersen13</a> ?<a href="https://t.co/MJ5nU8Ko26">pic.twitter.com/MJ5nU8Ko26</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1275279977831821312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Pledger, who has played eleven seasons in the NBL, is adopting a similar mentality. The 33-year-old missed time with an ankle injury last season, his second with Melbourne United, and was hoping to prove his fitness at lower levels this off-season.

That hasn’t happened, due to COVID, and the towering centre is still without a contract for NBL21. He’s has been left feeling frustrated but says he’s doing his best to remain optimistic.

“I’m just staying positive and hopeful that a good opportunity will come up,” Pledger said.

“I know that a lot of teams have either completed their roster or are close to completing it. But I also know that the season is still a long way off and there’s uncertainty about what it’s all going to look like, so we’ll see.”

Fellow Kiwi Mika Vukona and NBL veterans Tim Coenraad and Lucas Walker are all more seriously contemplating retirement.

It’s a difficult place for any athlete to find themselves and each is making the process easier by focusing on what they’ll sink their teeth into next.

For Coenraad, that involves continuing to build his business, Rebound Nutrition, as well as a potential transition into coaching at the NBL level.

“Yeah, it looks like I’m going to have to come to terms with the possibility of not playing,” Coenraad told NBL Media.

“That is what it is. Not everyone gets a fairy-tale at the end. I’m grateful for having an eleven-year career and I need to start moving forward with seeing what’s going to go on with life after basketball.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Timmy has come out HOT in game 300 ???<a href="https://twitter.com/coenraad22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coenraad22</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SYDatILL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SYDatILL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL20?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL20</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ru7KFgBfWy">pic.twitter.com/Ru7KFgBfWy</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1211900165679763461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Coenraad, who made his debut with the Hawks back in 2009, is only the third player ever to play over 300 games with the foundation club. And while he entered free agency open to the prospect of playing elsewhere, he says he’s resigned to the fact that he’s probably going to retire as a one-club player.

“There were some preliminary chats (with other clubs),” he explained.

“But for me to leave the Illawarra it would take a multi-year deal and someone who was going to make a significant investment. Right now, in my position, there is just not that sort of stuff available out there.”

Walker and Vukona have both also recently started businesses, as they position themselves for a likely transition out of the game.

Vukona, a five-time champion and one of the most revered players in NBL history, has established a transition program for elite athletes, focusing on mental wellbeing. It’s a business he’s been building for the past year or so.

Walker, meanwhile, recently launched a new company of his own, REPN, which provides basketball-inspired fitness training.

REPN is a business that draws on the expertise of pro ballers to offer an alternative to the traditional gym experience. Former NBL players Kevin Lisch, Tyson Demos and Cortez Groves are already on board as coaches, as are current Sydney players Daniel Kickert and Shaun Bruce.

“I have a marketing degree, I have a PT (personal training) certificate [and] I was studying project management online,” Walker told the Illawarra Mercury.

“But it was all kind of… how do I transition into the next chapter with experience in one of the fields I’m already qualified in but didn’t have any experience?

“That’s where I had to change my thinking and say, hang on this is where I’ve already got 15 years of experience.”

All signs are pointing towards something of a ‘changing of the guard’ taking place across the league this off-season.

When the NBL and the Australia Basketball Players’ Association struck an agreement earlier this year that saw salary reductions introduced for the upcoming season, it also involved shrinking the number of fully-contracted players on each roster from 11 to 10.

The assumption by many at the time was that teams would generally respond by signing one less young player than they typically might. Instead, a number of guys with loads of experience are feeling the squeeze.

“There’s certainly a lot of talent coming into the league,” Coenraad remarked.

“Guys who are younger, fitter and faster than us old guys and obviously very hungry. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

In fact, the proud Hawk is hopeful his club is one of the main beneficiaries from the influx of exciting young prospects.

“Hopefully the Hawks can start developing a real core group of guys who are going to hang around for a while because they’ve got a great young nucleus,” he said.

“There’s a lot of young guys who are 25 and under and that is gold for a team who is essentially rebuilding.”

As for Coenraad’s own playing future, as well as those of the league’s other uncontracted vets… well, in a typical year we’d already know for sure.

Not this year – 2020’s not playing by the rules. We’re going to have to wait a little longer to find out.