Perth fan
Years ago

Xavier Cooks to NZBL

Will line up for the Wellington Saints.

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Zodiac
Years ago

Good on him but I never would've thought a NZ NBL team would be able to afford a player of his quality.

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Captain88
Years ago

Do Wellington have a decent town around him? or will most of the cap be spent on him?

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Knowall
Years ago

Saints are the money cub in NZ. Spend to win chip and have great record as a result

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Dunkman
Years ago

Wellington have plenty of money and get who they want, there is a cap of sorts in place but clubs with money get around these things.

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PyroCross
Years ago

NZBL does have a salary cap these days, which prevents the scenario of the Saints having all the top NZ players and cruising their way to another championship. Though the Saints were in the lower half of total spending last year and won it. The Saints have managed to pick-up quality NBL talent before - Nick Kay pre-2019 FIBA WC is the most recent example, Torrey Craig prior to that.

Cooks will join three NBL players (Tom Vodanovich, Taane Samuel and Jordan Ngatai) and an import guard (Mike Smith) in what is a loaded line-up, particularly in the front court. Wellington are 0-3 to start the season - admittingly due to the delayed arrivals of all players mentioned - but should be in the running for playoffs/championship.

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EmBee
Years ago

Surely not going to get that much from him though? If he's off to NBA Summer League, that's a big chunk of the season, and if things go well for him there then I assume he's just basically gone from early July (??)

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Dunkman
Years ago

Play enough games to qualify for finals. Do summer league stuff then back for finals.

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AngusH
Years ago

Are NZBL games still available to watch online for free? Real keen to see how Cooks performs across the ditch.

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Saint23
Years ago

youtube have games

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LV
Years ago

Odd decision

He can't be earning that much from it and career wise, what's the benefit? He'd be better resting his body and improving his jumpshot with skills training, than dominating NZNBL against big men who lack his athleticism

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Zodiac
Years ago

I thought it was a bit odd too but I think he said he intends to go with it NBA wise next season like JLA so perhaps his NZ team were a bit more lenient about missing time for Summer League than say a team in Puerto Rico would be.

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Anonymightymouse
Years ago

"He can't be earning that much from it"

You'd be surprised. A high-quality player like Cooks would be well paid for a short amount of time in the NZ NBL.

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Xavier Cooks to NZBL

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