Troy Brown Jr. has been announced as the new import for the Adelaide 36ers. If there was a great signing to be made by the 36ers, this is a great signing. He takes the import slot that was made vacant by the naturalisation of Bryce Cotton prior to the start of the season. The 36ers took their time to see where their most obvious hole was and they fill it with someone who combines youth with high level experience.

Many commentators had pointed out what seemed to be a lack of point guards on the 36ers. These people must have looked past the position of one Bryce Cotton: a point guard. He exemplifies that by having the third-highest assist average in the league this season with 6.2 per game. Flynn Cameron too has showcased his ball handling abilities with 2.9 assists per game while reserve Isaac White provides 2.0. The point guard position was never going to be an issue. The centre situation could have been an issue once a basketball hoop collapsed on Ben Griscti in the NBL Blitz; he was still essentially an unknown quantity with limited playing time but was looking like he would have had a rotational role as the reserve centre. Instead, the 36ers pivoted safely — using the other import slot freed up by the unceremonious and generally murky release of Montrezl Harrell —to sign import Nick Rakocevic as a low-frills solid back-up. Rakocevic has excelled as the shadow to Isaac Humphries with an average of 8.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. The 36ers are covered at guard and centre.

The most glaring hole in the 36ers line-up was the forward position. They had one fully rostered player who stood between 6’6″ and 6’10” in Zylan Cheatham who plays primarily as a power forward. The situation has been so dire that Matt Kenyon, widely known 6’5″ shooting guard, has played as a power forward. This meant that the wings of opposing teams would go to work against smaller players out of position. The 36ers have three losses this season; two of those have included team-high performances by Kouat Noi of the Sydney Kings with 29 points and Dylan Windler of the Perth Wildcats with 18 points.

The other factor that has made this signing possible is the huge sacrifice made by Dejan Vasiljevic. It was only two seasons ago that he was the star signing of the team who quickly took over leadership responsibilities and carried the burden of overcoming longtime team failures. He took a role reduction with the additions of Harrell and Kendric Davis last season and had already taken another when Cotton was added this season. The starting line-up for most of the season has been Cotton, Vasiljevic and Cameron at guard alongside Cheatham at forward and Humphries at centre. In the 36ers last game against the Tasmania JackJumpers, Vasiljevic came off the bench for prototypical power forward Kenyon and excelled in his new role with 14 points in less than 17 minutes. Much of the 36ers story this season has been one of sacrifice with so many new talents on the team; other sacrifices have been made by Cheatham taking less of an offensive focus, Rakocevic coming off the bench and Kenyon masquerading as a power forward.

The combination of need and sacrifice means that the 36ers have made a major addition with Brown. He spent six seasons in the NBA with the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons from 2018 to 2024. Brown had his career-best performance during his sophomore season with the Wizards in 2019–20 when he was their sixth man with averages of 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He had a role reduction the following season before he was traded and ended his career as a journeyman with four teams in his final three seasons. Brown averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 356 appearances. He has only played briefly since his NBA career ended in 2024; he played three games with Manisa Basket in Türkiye and another three games with Cangrejeros de Santurce of Puerto Rico in the 2024–25 season. He has seven years of professional experience and is still remarkably young at 26-years-old.

The 36ers stayed patient with their signing and bring in a great talent for their primary positional need. This is another boost for their championship contention. Major.