Players

Took out a first Defensive Player of the Year award in NBL24 as he showed his true importance for Melbourne United both at that end of the floor but as a playmaker, distributor and all-round inspirational presence.

The 31-year-old is now 241 games into his career in the NBL that started at the New Zealand Breakers and has continued with Melbourne United where he has an enormous impact at both ends of the floor.

Started his basketball at the Auckland Pirates before a season each in the NZ NBL with the Super City Rangers and Southland Sharks saw him join the Breakers of the NBL for the first time as a development player in the 2014/15 season.

Played five seasons with the Breakers where he was part of the championship team of 2015 and was the league's Most Improved Player in 2018 before joining Melbourne for the first time for NBL20.

Has become a key part of a strong Melbourne team ever since and even though there were concussion concerns that limited him to just 14 appearances in NBL23, he hit back with a standout NBL24 on a team one win away from winning a championship.

Had already been part of United winning a championship in 2021 and went ever so close again in 2024 on the back of a season where he put up 10.7 points, 3.7 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals a game on the way to winning the Damian Martin Trophy as Defensive Player of the Year.

Along with what he's done in the NBL, has had a brilliant NZ NBL career as a five-time championship winner, Finals MVP in 2017 and MVP in 2018, along with being the NBL1 South MVP in 2022 while playing at the Sandringham Sabres.