John Jenkins has signed with the Adelaide 36ers for the remainder of NBL26. The 6’4″ shooting guard last played for CS Vâlcea 1924 in Romania. He takes the place of Troy Brown Jr. who left the 36ers earlier in the week.

With a league-best 19–5 record, the 36ers are in the best position they have been to winning the NBL championship since they lost in the final series to Melbourne United in 2018. The team then endured six consecutive seasons of not making the postseason until they finally broke through in 2025. Despite blowing a lead to lose during the play-in game, the symbolism was there. The 36ers were close to returning to their past glory. They definitely made sure of that by signing Bryce Cotton, Zylan Cheatham and Flynn Cameron to add to their core of Isaac Humphries and Dejan Vasiljevic during the offseason anyway.

The long overdue naturalisation of Cotton meant that the 36ers were gifted an additional bonus of signing a fourth import. They tried the first time by signing Brown, the six-year NBA veteran. Team leader Vasiljevic — who, only two seasons ago, was the focal point of the team — willingly moved to a reserve role to accomodate Brown in the starting line-up. Of course the 36ers enjoyed an 11–2 record during his tenure but Brown’s offensive input was limited. He did enough of everything else to warrant the investment but it was ultimately Brown himself who decided that he had enough and wanted to leave the team over what are apparently existential thoughts about being a basketball player.

The 36ers now get a second attempt to replace what they are missing. Their conclusion? Scoring. They sign Jenkins, another six-year NBA veteran. He only averaged 5.0 points per game in limited minutes during his 171 NBA appearances but his worldwide reputation is that of a scorer. Jenkins averaged 19 points per game during his final two collegiate seasons with Vanderbilt. He averaged 20.3 points per game during his seven years in the NBA Development League/G League. He last averaged 24 points per game during his 4 games in Romania. Additionally, Jenkins is a tried-and-tested player now. He is 34-years-old and has played basketball across the world. He is familiar with head coach Mike Wells through their time together on the United States national team; Cotton and Cheatham had also been recruited through their previous connections with Wells. The 36ers need someone who can be counted upon to provide some distraction away from leading-scorer Cotton and get some easy points.

It is interesting that the 36ers chose not to attempt a like-for-like switch for Brown though. As I had mentioned extensively, the 36ers are sorted for guards. They had seven already on their roster. Signing an eighth suggests a couple of alternatives: either the 36ers will run a three guard starting line-up of Cotton, Cameron and Jenkins or keep Jenkins as a reserve while returning Matt Kenyon to starting status. What this means for Vasiljevic is also to be seen; he has now been exposed to the addition of another shooting guard who will likely again be in front of him in the rotation and take away from his playing time. Jenkins is not known as a defensive icon either so the 36ers are trusting that the translation of his shooting ability will be relatively instant (as opposed to Brown who unfortunately never got it going) to make up for any other shortcomings. Any worries arising from the rest of the 36ers defensively are overblown; their defensive rating is third-best in the league. Their pressing worry is to get someone else who can score at will. Jenkins is a good candidate for achieving this.

The 36ers are serious about this championship. There is a window wide open for them to climb through to glory and they have brought Jenkins along in their attempt to snatch it.