NICKNAME/S: XRM

BIO: Born in Markham, Ontario, he started playing high school basketball at Christian Faith Center Academy in North Carolina. However, the NCAA was declining to accept credits received from the school, prompting him to transfer to Huntington Prep School in West Virginia. At Huntington Prep School, he played with current NBA player Andrew Wiggins, and he was considered a top 30 player in his class.

FAMILY: His stepfather is former NBA player Tharon Mayes.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Xavier Rathan-Mayes made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 27 years of age. He scored 15 points in his first game.

After nearly knocking off the Perth Wildcats and progressing to the Finals of NBL21, the Illawarra Hawks look primed and ready to progress even further in the upcoming season.

After a brilliant debut season, Tyler Harvey, the team’s leading scorer, was inked to a three-year deal and paired with import additions Antonius Cleveland and Travis Trice. Before the season began Trice was released from his contract after refusing to receive the COVID vaccine. Xavier Rathan-Mayes was signed as his replacement. Other additions included Harry Froling (via Brisbane) joining his brother Sam in Hawks colours and Duop Reath (via Serbia) joining the team after a impressive Boomers campaign.

Coming into the league off the back of a Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and ambitions to get into the NBA, the Reath started the season on fire averaging 19.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game in his first four games. Star guard Tyler Harvey however, found his second year in the NBL a little more challenging, seeing his scoring numbers dip from 20.4 points per game, to 16.1 but still led the team in scoring.

Club legend Tim Coenraad (3.9 points and 2.2 rebounds) was not included in the team’s full roster, but was later named as an injury replacement. He was elevated to full roster once again due to a season ending knee injury suffered by Daniel Grida.

Other notables for the Hawks saw a significant improvement from Next Star Justinian Jessup (13.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals) in his second season, Sam Froling (8.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks) bounced back from a injury plagued season to become a major part of the frontcourt rotation with Rathan-Mayes averaging 10.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists across 30 games.

Reath (15.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks) collected the Hawks MVP award at the end of the season while Antonius Cleveland (14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.1 blocks) was awarded the Damian Martin Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year and also named to the All-NBL First Team.

MELBOURNE UNITED
2022/23
After Melbourne finished the previous season on top of the ladder but suffered a early playoff exit after losing star guard Chris Goulding to injury, many felt United would return as championship favourites. Unexpectedly, however, United lost almost half of their starting unit prior to their first game as a result of injuries and better opportunities overseas.

Leading scorer Jo Lual Acuil, was very keen to stay in Melbourne but exited the club after receiving a offer to play in China, which was far too good to refuse.

White and Dellavedova were both contracted for this season, but with only weeks before tip-off, both secured deals to play in the NBA from Denver and Sacramento respectively. The loss of both players couldn’t have come at a worse time, as most players around the globe had already signed deals with team’s, leaving very few options available to replace them. Isaac Humphries (via Adelaide), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (via Illawarra), Rayjon Tucker and Jordan Caroline were all signed, and David Barlow, who had announced his retirement, returned to help fill the gaps.

Things went from bad to worse when Next Star Ariel Hukporti went down clutching his lower leg during the NBL Blitz in Darwin. With starting centre Hukporti out for the season, Humphries, who was coming back from a serious bout of knee problems, was thrust into playing major minutes. The absence of a clear backup big man forced veteran forwards Barlow and Brad Newley, as well as import Jordan Caroline, to log considerable minutes at the centre position.

United were able to win their first game of the season, a overtime victory against New Zealand (101–97) off the back of a huge night from Rathan-Mayes (33 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists).

Rathan-Mayes (14.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists), who had been recruited to lead the team’s second unit, was thrust into the starting lineup after Shea Ili (8.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists) became a late omission, a result of a concussion suffered during FIBA qualifying games while playing for New Zealand. Ili would drift in and out of the team’s roster for most of the season, appearing in only 13 games through three separate stints, forcing Tucker to spend time out of position and running the floor in his absence.

Melbourne (5-6) struggled through the first three months of the season, with numerous media outlets calling for a import change to try and improve their situation. While Tucker (17.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists), who, when first signed, proclaimed that he would be the ‘best first year import in the league’ was a long way away from that, it was Caroline (5.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) who came into United’s program as a high-effort, bustling power forward but failed to establish himself as a undersized centre and was axed.

Marcus Lee (9.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks), a former teammate of Humphries, was signed in November, adding size and interior defence to the squad and sparking a major turnaround for Melbourne. During this time, United also got a boost from the return of Ili, and Tucker finally began to find his feet offensively.

The last straw seemed to be a loss to Illawarra (93–79), who at the time had only one to their credit for the entire season. This loss, combined with Melbourne finally being able to put their intended starting roster fit on the floor, resulted in a 16-point win over Brisbane (104-88) the following game. Goulding (20 points), Tucker (20 points), Lee (18 points), Ili (15 points) and Rathan-Mayes (8 points and 10 rebounds) off the bench, all producing good numbers and gelling together for the first time. Following their shock defeat to the Hawks, United ended their campaign on a 11-3 run.

Melbourne’s turnaround saw them enter the final day of the regular season with hopes of scraping into the Play-In Qualifier. It looked like United would make it after Tucker (31 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists) carried the team to a win over Adelaide (116–107) in their last game, a Perth victory over league leaders Sydney saw them claim the final playoff spot due to points percentage.

A telling sign of what hindered Melbourne this season was the fact this marked the first time a Dean Vickerman led United team had finished the season outside the top five in the competition in defensive rating. Despite their poor form, United were a part of multiple historic events during the season. United faced off against reigning and eventual champs Sydney on Christmas, which drew more than 300,000 people to their TV screens and sparked a new tradition across Australia. Tucker (31 points and 5 rebounds) would finish as the game’s highest scorer, but United would suffer a 21-point loss to the Kings (101-80). On the back of big man Isaac Humphries (9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks) publicly announcing he was gay, the team also spearheaded a NBL pride round. As a part of the round that celebrated the LGBTQ+ community.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Illawarra Hawks and the Melbourne United. He averaged 12.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 58 NBL games.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dan Boyce (815 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.