Taipans Off-Season Report - July

As the NBL season rapidly approaches, catch up with the latest news as our Taipans wrap up their off-season campaigns.

Returning to the half-court for the final time before the NBL season, Adam Forde and his Gangurrus have claimed Silver at the Commonwealth Games.

After reaching the gold medal game undefeated, they came up against the also unbeaten England lineup.

Steered by Jonah Antonio who led the tournament in two-pointers with 21 makes across their seven games, the former Taipan scored 12 points in the Final but it wasn't enought to take down England.

With the regular season complete, several Taipans are now focused on their finals push in the NBL1.

Becoming the first men’s team to go undefeated in the NBL1 regular season, Luca Yates and the Cairns Marlins will return to the court this weekend to host the Ipswich Force. Entering the post-season averaging 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds, Yates will be a key piece for Cairns as they look to keep their record-breaking streak alive.

Leading the country in assists, Shaun Bruce and the Logan Thunder are currently preparing for a semi-final showdown with the Gold Coast Rollers. Scoring a season-high 35 points, 13 assists, three boards, three steals and two blocks, the guard led Logan to victory against Mackay and sit one game shy of the Grand Final series.

Entering the play-offs in seventh place, Reyne Smith and the Maitland Mustangs begun their finals campaign with a 24-point win over Canberra. With a performance of 24 points, six assists and three rebounds last weekend, Smith is now preparing for a semi-final battle against Sutherland, with the winner facing the Illawarra Hawks in the preliminary Finals.

Yates, Smith and Bruce will all play on Saturday night, with Maitland's game beginning at 6:30pm AEST, before both Cairns and Logan hit the court from 8:00pm AEST.

Tune into all NBL1 games live on NBL1.com.au, with select games available via Kayo Freebies.

Sealing an undefeated record in the first round of the 2027 World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the Australian Boomers defeated both Guam and the Philippines in Perth earlier this month.

Joined by Jack McVeigh, Reyne Smith and Keanu Pinder, the Boomers won the games by 72 and 43 points respectively, with the Taipans scoring at least nine points each in the first hitout.

In the second match, Pinder boasted the best plus/minus for Australia while leading the scoring for his Taipans teammates with nine points, five boards, two assists, three steals and a block.

The second round of qualifiers will kick off next month in Manila, with Australia facing Syria and Jordan before further fixtures in the November and February FIBA windows.

In Türkiye, Luke Paul led the Australian Crocs to a Bronze medal at the U17 FIBA World Cup.

Only falling to the USA in the semi-finals, his side averaged a winning margin of 16 points across their other six games, with Paul sitting third in the tournament for assists.

Averaging 15.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, the Taipans teen also picked up his third All-Star Five award from his four tournaments in the green and gold.