Quentin Peterson has signed with the Illawarra Hawks as their new import. Nicknamed QJ, he replaces JaQuori McLaughlin who was not nicknamed JQ but was released earlier in October. Peterson joins a struggling reigning championship team that has limped off to a 2–4 record.

Now, I am writing this article after Peterson made his debut with the Hawks. It was as part of a 60–102 loss at home to the ninth place New Zealand Breakers. Anyone in the Wollongong region who wished for a nightmare Halloween received it by witnessing the debut of Peterson: 4 points, 1 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fours in 25:14 minutes of play with shooting percentages of 10.0% field goal, 16.7% three-point and 50% free throw. It was a true thrown-into-the-fire moment for Peterson and he will have time to get it together.

Peterson last played for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association where he averaged 20.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists. Bizarrely, the Hawks’ announcement article of Peterson’s signing claims that he last played for the New Taipei Kings in Taiwan — a team he has never played for — with imaginary averages of “over 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game” as he heroically led them to the 2024 Finals. The Kings actually did make the 2024 Finals but the only player on that team who had similar statistics is Jeremy Lin; I have been able to confirm that Peterson is not Lin but apparently the Hawks thought they had signed someone else. The NBL even his last name spelt wrong on their website.

Whoever the Hawks thought they were signing has statistical numbers way below that of Peterson who has been putting up points since his collegiate days where he averaged 19.5 points during his four years at VMI. He embarked on an international career after his graduation in 2017 and has played in the Czech Republic, South Korea, Cyprus, Ukraine, Denmark, Turkiyë, China and Puerto Rico. Peterson averaged an absurd career-high of 29.5 points per game in Ukraine during the 2019–20 season but has spent most of his time in China where he has played for three teams. His last stint with Xinjiang was actually a much lower points average than he normally had there; he averaged 28.7 points with Nanjing Monkey King in 2022–23 and 27.2 with the Jilin Tigers in 2023–24.

Peterson will be expected to answer one of the key problems that the Hawks possess: scoring. They have failed to surpass 90 points in six of their seven games this season. Their offensive rating is second-worst. Only two of their players have double-figure scoring averages. Peterson’s signing also suggests that the Hawks are going all-in on their strategy to try outscore other teams; their defensive rating will likely continue to be last in the league. At 6’0″, Peterson does possess ball handling ability but will probably be utilised as a shooting guard. The Hawks’ decision to sign a guard as well means that Peterson will probably be coming off the bench behind the starting duo of William Hickey and Tyler Harvey.

Peterson’s signing completes a month of import upheaval with four teams having replaced their imports. Three of those imports have NBA experience; Peterson is the only one to not (nor does he have any American professional experience for that matter). Here is hoping that his past scoring success finds its return here; his predecessor, McLaughlin, was released with 20.7 field goal and 14.3 three-point percentages. We will await to see which form of him arrives: be it Peterson, Petersen or Lin.