The arrival of new talent into the NBL results in only one inevitability: talent that was once new departs to make way. Six teams are now completed and there are only four roster spots left across three teams: the Illawarra Hawks have one import spot and one local spot; the Perth Wildcats have one import spot; and the South East Melbourne Phoenix have one local spot. This means it is likely that the players here will not be making a return for the start of the 2025–26 season. Some are surprising. Some are expected. Some will make it back eventually. Some might not realise they have already played in their last NBL game.

Thomas Vodanovich has seemingly managed to squeeze himself into an NBL roster for the seven years he has been in it which makes it all the more surprising that only a brief glimmer of light appears through an ever-closing door. He was a rotation player for the South East Melbourne Phoenix last season and averaged 2.7 points in 30 appearances. Vodanovich has spent his six other seasons in the league with the Tasmania JackJumpers, Sydney Kings and his native New Zealand Breakers. He has won two championships with the Kings in 2022 and JackJumpers in 2024. Will one of the league’s premier bruisers find his way to muscle back onto another roster or will the NBL be a little softer next season?

Jonah Antonio is one of the most surprising remaining free agents considering his one strength is always a needed commodity: three-point shooting. He spent the last three seasons with the Cairns Taipans and increased his playing time each year. Antonio had an NBL career-best 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds last season. He also became one of the only players in league history to have a season with a three-point percentage higher than a total field goal percentage: 30.5% three-point over 30.4% field goal. Antonio’s role of resident three-point shooter on the Taipans was replaced by their acquisition of Reyne Smith but it has been fascinating that no other team could find a space for someone who can provide an instant spark off the bench.

It feels like a different lifetime when Tai Webster put together a season that made him look like one of the premier local guards in the league: he averaged 17.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists for his native New Zealand Breakers during the 2020–21 season. The career trajectory he was supposed to have was taken away from him as a result of his stance on vaccinations and his two-year contract extension with the Breakers was voided before the start of the next season. Webster has now spent the last three seasons with the Perth Wildcats where he was the starting point guard but never averaged double-figures in scoring nor more than 23 minutes per game. The Wildcats have replaced Webster’s position on the roster with the elevation of fellow New Zealander Dontae Russo-Nance and there is suddenly no place for Webster to go.

Mojave King was the 47th pick of the 2023 NBA draft; two years later and he is seemingly not a coveted commodity in the NBL which is a bizarre change of fortune. King was flying high after his draft selection by spending the 2023–24 season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA G League and then returned to the NBL for his native New Zealand Breakers in 2024. He averaged a decent 8.5 points last season. King is only 25-years-old so it has been unexpected that no team has taken even a flyer on him; it could be that he is seeking to play elsewhere in the world to try hunt down that NBA aspiration he came so close to achieving.

Jackson Makoi looked on his way to being the next Cairns Taipans prospect to develop into a rounded player; he averaged 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists during the first 11 games of the 2024–25 season. That was to all come to an abrupt end in January 2025 when he was arrested on domestic violence charges which were ultimately thrown out because the complainant refused to appear in court. Regardless, Makoi was not re-signed by the Taipans and his exoneration has not resulted in a redemption. He was unfortunately already on thin behavioural ice after he was suspended for the start of the 2024–25 season due to being caught driving under the influence. In such a small league, reputations matter and it might be that Makoi is a talent who finds it remarkably difficult to make it back.

Emmett Naar was the gun reserve point guard on the Illawarra Hawks in 2019–20; he returned to the NBL last season with the Brisbane Bullets after a two-year exodus and is likely not coming back. The naturalisation of Dillon Stith earned him his first full roster spot with the Cairns Taipans last season; he has not been returned by the team. Deng Adel was a rotation player for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA during the 2018–19 season; he was an afterthought on the Brisbane Bullets roster last season and was held in a similar regard by other teams in the league when it came to offering him a contract.

With only 110 full roster spots, opportunities disappear quickly and someone who was once ushered in with much potential suddenly finds themself outside. It is comparatively a supremely difficult job market with the constant emergence of competition and the players detailed will likely have to pursue opportunities elsewhere.