Better late than never.
We're in the off-season for the National Basketball League (NBL) and Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) competitions... But there's no harm in nostalgia.
The recent year of pro basketball in Australia was full of massive moments and records broken, so we asked the eyes on the ground to tell us their Top 5 Moments.
Olgun Uluc, ESPN and Jacinta Govind of Front Row Hustle and East Got Game podcasts take us through the big moments you may have missed from 2025/26.
NATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE – TOP 5
According to Olgun Uluc (ESPN)
#5 Sellout crowd for NBA x NBL preseason games in Melbourne
In a historic first for the NBL, Melbourne hosted the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, becoming the first NBA team to play in Australia.
The Pelican’s tour featured two preseason bouts against Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix, selling out Rod Laver Arena for the two matchups.
The encounters served as a proving ground for the NBL, with Australia's top domestic talent battling it out against NBA superstars.
“Zion Williamson was the drawcard from the Pelicans, who won both games, while 17-year-old Australian draft prospect Dash Daniels had an impressive outing for United against NBA competition,” said Olgun Uluc.
#4. Goulding plays game No. 500
The NBL simply isn’t the same without Melbourne United’s long serving shooting guard Chris Goulding, as he became the 15th player in NBL history to play 500 career games in the league.
Holding onto a tight win on the road in Goulding’s milestone game, Olgun Uluc depicts the career of the Melbourne United legend, from debuting as a development player with the Brisbane Bullets in 2006/07 to becoming the face of the league and winning two championships with Melbourne United.
“One of Australia's all-time great sharpshooters - who's still playing at a high level as he surpassed his 500th career NBL game - Goulding has also been a mainstay of the Australian Boomers program, playing in two Olympics and three FIBA World Cups for the senior national team.”
#3 Jack McVeigh catches fire with career-high… days after becoming a dad
“One of the most memorable performances of the season was when Jack McVeigh stepped onto the floor against the New Zealand Breakers in mid-December, just days after welcoming his first child - and seemingly couldn’t miss,” says Uluc.
McVeigh’s already decorated career featuring a stint in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, and a 2024 Olympic campaign was bolstered further, as Olgun Uluc highlights McVeigh shooting a "new career-high 47 points, 16-of-21 from the field and 6-of-8 from beyond the three-point line in the win.”
“Putting together one of the NBL’s best and most efficient scoring displays in recent memory.”
“Shoutout to the baby at home,” McVeigh said post-game.
#2 Bryce Cotton’s incredible Championship Series game-winner
The 2026 NBL Championship required no additional fuel to an already amassing fire, with tensions reaching boiling point on and off the court between players and owners. However, no moment was more captivating than that of Bryce Cotton’s game winner to tie the series in game two.
Olgun Uluc explains, “In front of a raucous, sold-out Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd – with scores tied at 89-89 – the ball fell in Cotton’s hands near his own basket with less than five seconds to play,”
“The six-time NBL MVP put the burners on, went coast to coast, and hit a tough left-handed layup at the buzzer to win his 36ers the game and tie the series at 1-1".
#1 Kendric Davis and the Sydney Kings win the NBL title in a Game 5 classic
Coming in as the top moment of the 2025/26 NBL season had to be the Sydney Kings crowning moment, overcoming the Adelaide 36ers in game five of the Championship Series in front a record breaking NBL 18,589 crowd at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena.
With it all to play for in game 5, the 36ers held the lead in the fourth quarter and looked poised to win their first NBL championship in 25 years, until "the Kings’ dynamic point guard Kendric Davis took over at the end of the fourth quarter and overtime to seal the win for the home team; the franchise’s third title in the last five seasons,” said Uluc.
Davis's game five heroics led the Kings to the title, finishing with 35 points and 14 assists to close out his dominant Championship Series campaign, with Davis claiming the Larry Sengstock Medal as the Championship Series MVP.
And of course it was Davis, the King’s sensation, delivering on his promise to “just win something that they can’t vote on,” after narrowly missing out on the regular season MVP award, losing to Bryce Cotton by two votes.
Olgun Uluc asserts that “the championship added to the growing legacies of multiple Australian Boomers representatives. Former Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian won his seventh NBL title, while four-time Olympian Matthew Dellavedova joined the short list of players who’ve won both an NBA and NBL championship. Former Boomers bigs and NBA champions Luc Longley (co-owner) and Andrew Bogut (co-owner and assistant coach) also played primary roles for the Kings during this title-winning campaign”.
The Boomers return to Perth for a massive World Cup qualifying double-header, tickets on sale now via Ticketek.
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE - TOP FIVE
According to Jacinta Govind (Front Row Hustle / East Got Game)
#5 A new team enters as the WNBL expands to Tasmania
In exciting news for the WNBL, the Tasmania Jewels were announced in August 2025 as the newest addition to the league and are set to enter the competition in the 2026/27 WNBL season.
Women’s basketball has a rich history in Tasmania and they had a representative team with the Hobart Islanders competing in the WNBL from 1986 – 1996 and won the WNBL title in 1991.
Jacinta Govind describes the WNBL’s expansion with Tasmania as a reflection of the “growth of women’s basketball in Australia, the commitment of the new WNBL owners to growing the league and the importance of providing a pathway for aspiring pro ballers in the Apple Isle. If you can see it, you can be it.”
#4 Tiana Mangakahia honoured as a WNBL Life Member
“Fans of the WNBL and Australian basketball were met with the tragic news of Tiana Mangakahia passing away in September 2025 at the tender age of 30 years from cancer,” says Govind.
“Mangakahia was a naturally talented point guard gifted with passing precision and elite court vision. She was an infectiously positive and resilient young woman who lighted a room with her warm smile.”
Mangakahia has been honoured with WNBL Life Membership in February 2026 acknowledging her impact beyond the court.
“Her legacy includes the Pink Round at Hoops Capital in conjunction with the McGrath Foundation and the Tiana Mangakahia award for MVP of the Townsville Tip-Off,” Govind explains.
#3 Borlase’s Crowning Moment as MVP
22-year-old Isobel Borlase added to a growing list of personal accolades as the WNBL 2025/26 scoring champion claimed her maiden Suzy Batkovic Medal (WNBL MVP).
Borlase’s breakout year featured averages of 22.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and four assists, earning selection on the All-WNBL First Team for the second time in her career, as Govind depicts is “the perfect preparation for her possible WNBA debut with the Atlanta Dream.”
In perhaps her crowning moment, Borlase starred in the Round 15 clash against the Southside Melbourne Flyers.
“She shot at 67% overall, including 6/9 3 pointers and was a perfect 12/12 from the free throw line. She became the first player to score 42 points since Penny Taylor in 2002,” says Govind.
#2 Puoch’s prayer secures a win for the UC Caps
In a season that delivered so many highlight plays, it was 21-year-old Nyadiew Puoch’s logo dagger over the Perth Lynx that stole the show in round 12, in front of a packed-out home crowd in Canberra.
“The game was tied 74-74 and Perth had the final offensive possession. With 3.8 seconds remaining, Pouch deflects a post catch intended for Xu and launches an absolute prayer from just inside the halfway line in the dying seconds of the game. Puoch nails it to secure a win for the Caps.”
#1 Heroics of Horvat and Sowah’s CLUTCH 3 pointer forcing Game 2 of the WNBL Championship Series into OT!
The #1 moment of the WNBL 2025/26 season fell into Miela Sowah’s hands in Game Two of the Championship Series, as Sowah forced overtime by nailing a clutch three with five seconds left in regulation.
Govind explains it as “a single moment driven by desperation and urgency provided arguably one of the most exciting finishes to a WNBL grand final ever.”
“Sowah’s first 3-point attempt misses, but then Horvat heroically secures an offensive rebound deep under the rim and almost telepathically finds Sowah for a clutch 3 that sends the game into OT”.
Sowah’s heroics maintained Townsville’s hopes of a clean sweep, with Townsville surging in overtime to secure the 105-108 win and seal the 2-0 series victory, claiming the 2025/26 WNBL Championship.
