Five NBL rookies ready to make an instant impact in NBL27
A talented crop of college returnees look set to make an early impression in the NBL.
As the college basketball landscape has changed, so too has its impact on the wider basketball world. The NBL is no exception, and this offseason has seen a number of established players make the move to the US to chase the riches of the NIL era. Ben Henshall and Owen Foxwell were both starters on NBL finals teams and emerging stars on the court; for the next year at least, they’ll continue to shine away from home.
Thankfully, there’s still plenty of Aussie and New Zealand talent heading back the other way. The NBL’s 2026 rookie class looks to be as deep as any in recent memory, with a handful of players ready to step right in and make their mark. As the league continues to grow and the talent level rises, we’re looking at some of the young stars that look set to rise with it.
Max Mackinnon, Brisbane Bullets
He’s the son of an NBL legend, but Max Mackinnon is ready to create his own legacy in the league. The most accomplished college player in this year’s rookie class, he joins the Brisbane Bullets with a real chance to play a significant role from day one. While it won’t be his first time in a Bullets jersey, having played five games as a development player back in NBL22, he joins a vastly different club, one that is looking to finally find some stability under Will Weaver after seven straight years outside of the finals.
With eight fresh faces on the roster, Mackinnon is primed to establish himself as a face of the new-look Bullets from day one. “A lot of stuff was happening, a lot of options, but you just kind of wanted to know somewhere you’re going to be able to impact and play,” Mackinnon told NBL Now last week. “Obviously I’ll earn that spot, but Will had a great vision, and it was just a no-brainer to be back in Brissy.”
Looking at his career to date, there’s no reason to believe the 22-year-old won’t find early success in the NBL. Playing at three different schools across his four-year college career, he continually stepped up to higher levels of competition and thrived every time. In the Colonial Athletic Association with Elon, he averaged 11.7 points per game over two seasons; with Portland in the West Coast Conference, that jumped to a team-high 14.5 points; and as a senior in the gauntlet of the SEC, he led LSU in scoring at 15.7 points per game. Throw in a dominant campaign at this year’s Adidas EuroCamp, and he’s more than proven that he can rise to every occasion.
After an NBA Summer League stint with the Charlotte Hornets, he now lands in Brisbane ready to make a running start to his professional career. It’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll be a starter for the Bullets, lining up in the backcourt alongside last year’s EuroCup assist leader, Arnas Velička. It’s a perfect fit to ease Mackinnon into life in the NBL – a 38% three point shooter last season on almost six attempts per game, he’ll surely see plenty of open looks generated by the playmaking of Velička and the interior presence of Tyrell Harrison.
That shooting is his most bankable skill, but he’s got the tools to be more than just a spot-up shooter. He’s always shown the ability to create off the dribble, and at six-foot-six, he’s able to rise and shoot over defenders from all three levels. Weaver has assembled a balanced roster in his first season at the helm, but the most glaring hole is a lack of scoring punch and creation outside of Velička. It might be unfair to expect Mackinnon to be a star from day one, but he has the potential to fill some of that void, and eventually grow into the go-to scorer that every successful NBL team needs.
The NBL is a worse place when the Bullets are incompetent, and there’s hope that this season and their new regime can finally turn things around. For Mackinnon and everyone involved, that’s the number one goal. “I’ll earn that spot, but I’m super keen just to impact in whatever way I can in Brisbane and help bring back Brisbane to winning,” he told NBL Now.
Harry Wessels, Sydney Kings
Long touted as one of Australia’s most promising young players, Harry Wessels is still yet to really show what he can do. The big man came through the Centre of Excellence, has already represented the Boomers, and was consistently in the rotation across four years with Saint Mary’s in the NCAA. Despite that, a true breakout never really came – he started 23 games as a senior but still played a supporting role, averaging 17 minutes and five points per game.
That production might be modest, but the 24-year-old’s potential is still sky high. That’s why he landed a spot on San Antonio’s Summer League roster, posting a near-double-double in the consolation rounds, and why he was a no-brainer signing for the Sydney Kings. He’ll now join the defending champions as they chase back-to-back titles with much of their core still in place, but with the chance to be even better in NBL27.
Big men don’t grow on trees, and Wessels is a big, big man. Standing at seven-foot-one, he’s the tallest player currently signed to an NBL team, and that will immediately give the Kings a point of difference on the court. More importantly, he knows how to put that size to good use – despite his limited minutes at Saint Mary’s, he still finished in the top ten in program history for blocked shots. Across his senior year, he averaged a block per game, but in games where he played 20-plus minutes, that number jumped to 1.6.
Last season’s Kings were already the best defensive team in the league, with the versatility to mix and match their lineups to suit any opponent. A lot of that success was built around Xavier Cooks and Torrey Craig, with their ability to guard multiple positions allowing the Kings to play smaller and stay effective; now, they’ll also have the option to pivot hard the other way and play bigger than any other team. It may not be a staple of their gameplan, but you can guarantee that head coach Brian Goorjian will find ways to use that to their advantage.
The same goes offensively, where Wessels is unlikely to move the needle as a scorer, but where he’ll be a useful weapon in Sydney’s arsenal. Guards across the NBL will dread facing the Kings – as if stopping reigning Grand Final MVP Kendric Davis isn’t hard enough, they’ll now have him running them into a heavy dose of bone-crunching screens from Wessels. He won’t create for himself, but with good touch around the rim and as a 74% free throw shooting across his college career, he should be an effective play finisher and a big target for Sydney’s playmakers to hit.
While the Kings have kept the bulk of their championship-winning core, the biggest shift has come in the frontcourt. Import centre Tim Soares has departed, and while Keli Leaupepe was expected to step into his starting role, he’ll miss a second straight season through injury. They’ve reportedly added G League forward Andrew Carr in recent days, who brings a similar skill set to Soares as a six-foot-eleven floor spacer; it seems safe to assume that he’ll start alongside Cooks and Craig.
Even still, there’s room for Wessels to play key minutes as a backup, and that shuffling of the deck leaves the door open for him to carve out an even bigger role for himself. It’s also the perfect situation for him to continue to develop, learning from senior players like Cooks and Matthew Dellavedova, playing under a legendary coach in Goorjian, and spending time around two of Australia’s greatest ever bigs in Andrew Bogut and Luc Longley. The Kings won’t need him to be a star just yet, but Wessels could well emerge as one before his time in Sydney is done.
Anthony Dell’Orso, Perth Wildcats
Across the last three years, Ben Henshall became an invaluable member of the Perth Wildcats. The Western Australian native went from an up-and-down rookie to a key starter, a national team player, and a legitimate two-way threat in the NBL. His departure for Ole Miss in the NCAA this offseason was a big blow for the Wildcats; thankfully, they’ve got a ready-made replacement coming back the other way.
It’s not quite a like-for-like swap, but Anthony Dell’Orso is more than ready to step in and play from day one. After spending the last two seasons with one of the best teams in college basketball, he worked out for 12 NBA teams ahead of the draft and played at Summer League with the Sacramento Kings. Now, he joins a Wildcats squad with championship aspirations, playing for a club and a fanbase that expects excellence and nothing less.
It’ll also be a reunion of sorts, with Dell’Orso enjoying a close relationship with Wildcats head coach John Rillie. “[Rillie] kept in touch from my freshman year at Campbell and was a big influence on some of the decisions I made moving forward… he’s been a great person to have in my corner,” Dell’Orso said after signing with Perth. “JR made it really clear what my role could look like and how I could fit into the team, so it was an opportunity I couldn’t really say no to.”
It’s easy to envision what that role will be, and it’ll be much the same as his role over the last two years with Arizona. Playing for a powerhouse program that finished each of the last two seasons ranked in the top 15 in the country, Dell’Orso established himself as one of the best shooters in the country. In both of his seasons there, more than half of his total field goal attempts came from behind the arc, and he finished as a career 36% three-point shooter. At six-foot-six and with a quick release, he’s able to punish late closeouts and give opposing defences fits when moving off the ball.
That will be a godsend for a Wildcats team that’s built around a pair of frontcourt stars in Kristian Doolittle and Jo-Lual Acuil, both of whom are a matchup nightmare when teams are forced to guard them one on one. It’s a role that Dell’Orso filled with aplomb in Arizona, spacing the floor for eventual NBA draft picks Koa Peat and Brayden Burries and punishing teams that sent a double their way.
Henshall came to the Wildcats with a reputation as a shooting specialist, but he developed into a well-rounded guard, able to run the point and defend at a good level. There’s reason to believe Dell’Orso can do the same – he’s shown flashes as a shot creator and a passer, and his size and smarts should hold him in good stead defensively. At the very least, though, he’ll step straight in as one of the best shooters in the league, and that alone will make him immensely valuable.
Ben Gold, Tasmania JackJumpers
For the second straight season, the Tasmania JackJumpers are putting all of their faith in a rookie big man. In NBL26, they desperately needed Kobe Williamson to be NBL-ready, and that just wasn’t the case. One year later, they cut him after just one year of a two-year deal, and replaced him with another college product in Ben Gold. There’s reason to believe, though, that the 23-year-old New Zealander can enjoy more success than his predecessor.
Gold heads south after four years with Marquette, where he helped the Golden Eagles to make three straight NCAA Tournament appearances in his first three seasons. Across those three seasons, he went from a spot contributor off the bench to a key starter thanks to a lot of the attributes that JackJumpers coach Scott Roth values – versatility, hard work, and high character. His true breakout came as a junior, where he started all 34 games for a team that went 23-11, bringing a strong presence around the basket at six-foot-eleven while also shooting over 37% from three on more than four attempts per game.
The biggest concern is Gold’s senior year, where both he and his team took a step backwards. Marquette won just 12 games, and while Gold’s raw numbers stayed fairly steady, his efficiency plummeted and he struggled to be effective. Coming off that career-best shooting year, he made just 26% of his threes, with that regression sapping so much of his value on the court. The important caveat is injury – he spent the back half of the season battling an ankle injury that left him in a moonboot and on crutches at their end-of-season celebrations.
That makes it tough to get a good read on what Gold could bring in his first NBL season, which in turn could have a big impact on Tasmania’s success. He’ll enter NBL27 as the team’s backup centre, but even that doesn’t fully describe his importance. That’s because he’ll be backing up Will Magnay, who has played just 97 of a possible 166 games since joining the JackJumpers. Last season, Magnay played a career-high 24 games, but that still left nine games missed through injury, a span in which Tasmania went 2-7. At this stage, it would be foolish to think he’ll play a full season without interruption, which leaves a lot of pressure on Gold to hold things down when he goes to the bench or is sidelined once again.
The JackJumpers had some success playing small last season, with Majok Deng and Josh Bannan filling in at the five, but Magnay’s layoff showed that that wasn’t sustainable long-term. In a league with just five seven-footers, Gold is a legitimate big body at six-foot-eleven, which should help to ease the transition into the pros and give Tasmania a better shot if lightning strikes Magnay for the umpteenth time. In their best-case scenario, he’ll rediscover his shooting touch and continue on the trajectory of his first three years in the NCAA.
Jayden Stone, Sydney Kings
He’s yet to play a second of professional basketball, but Jayden Stone will still bring a wealth of experience to the Sydney Kings. The 25-year-old has lived a full hoops life already, making the move to the US at just 15 years old and then spending time at four different schools during a five-year NCAA career. From struggling to find his footing at Grand Canyon, to grinding and growing at Detroit Mercy, sitting out his lone year with West Virginia due to a serious neck injury and resulting health issues, and finally a winning last season in the SEC with Missouri, he’s seen it all and become a serious player in the process.
All of that experience gives him some valuable perspective as he now steps into the professional ranks, joining a Sydney squad that won the title last season. “That allows me to come here with a humbleness, not to think I’mma be the saviour of the team or anything – they’ve got their structure, they’ve won, so just come in and learn,” Stone told NBL Now last month.
A 20-point-per-game scorer with Detroit Mercy, he stepped up a level into the SEC last season but continued to shine for Missouri, averaging 13.5 points per game while shooting over 38% from three. Most importantly, he slid into more of a supporting role with ease, spending less time with the ball in his hands but still finishing as the team’s second-leading scorer and doing so more efficiently than ever. That bodes well for his transition into the pro game and his fit on a Kings roster that’s jam-packed with playmakers.
On paper, Stone has all of the tools to be a valuable NBL player. Offensively, he’s a versatile weapon, able to play off the ball and space the floor as a career 36% three point shooter in college, or handle the ball and attack off the bounce. Defensively, Missouri often used him at the point of attack, where he was disruptive in passing lanes and generally held up well. He’ll step into the league as a plus athlete, and at six-foot-four, he’s got the size to guard one through three comfortably.
The unknown is how all of that will translate to the professional game early in his career. The Kings have some depth on the wings to ease him through any teething issues, even after the loss of Bul Kuol and Kouat Noi in the offseason and the reported looming departure of Jaylin Galloway. Craig will start and play big minutes, Tyler Robertson and Makuach Maluach continue to grow and improve, and they’ll employ some guard-heavy lineups with Davis and Dellavedova. It’s a perfect spot for him to develop, but there’s no reason he couldn’t earn some spot minutes early, and maybe even more opportunities if he impresses.