BIO: Biwali Bayles was born in Brisbane (QLD) before moving to the Sydney suburb of Redfern with his family when he was one or two years old. There he then began playing junior basketball with the Sydney basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Biwali Bayles made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 19 years of age. He scored seven points in his first game.

2021 saw the Kings replace Adam Forde with unproven US coach, Chase Buford. Buford, the son of RC Buford, the mastermind of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA, would be handed a team with a already impressive core in Xavier Cooks, Jarell Martin and Dejan Vasiljevic and added former NBA talent Jaylen Adams and fellow import RJ Hunter.

The change in leadership and early-season injuries to RJ Hunter (who would only play in one NBL game), Adams (missed a third of the season) and young big man Jordan Hunter, who would miss the entire season, resulted in a sluggish start for the Kings. After a stretch in January where the Kings lost four consecutive games, Adams was able to make his return, the Kings added a former NBA teammate of Kings co-owner Andrew Bogut, Ian Clark and things began to improve.

Bayles would average 3.5 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assist as the Kings then finished the year in spectacular fashion, winning 13 consecutive games to end the regular season.

The Kings faced Brian Goorjian and the Illawarra Hawks in the semifinals, but comfortably defeated them in two straight games. On the other side of the bracket, the Tasmania JackJumpers in their debut NBL season, who were lucky to even be in the playoffs, defeated Melbourne United in three games. Tasmania had finished the season in fifth place and only qualified for the playoffs thanks to points percentage after South East Melbourne beat Perth in the final game of the season.

In the Grand Final series, Sydney continued to show their dominance, defeating Tasmania (95-78) in the opening game of the series. Adams, who had been named NBL MVP the previous week, scored 18 points in the win but suffered a left hamstring injury which would see him miss the remainder of the Grand Final series.

Game two saw JackJumpers fan favourite Josh Adams erupt for 36 points in front of a sell-out Tasmanian crowd, but thanks to 20 point efforts from both captain Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin (who shot 80% from the field) as well as Dejan Vasiljevic, who nailed a long range dagger in the closing minutes clinched game two for the Kings, 90-86. The win was Sydney’s 12th straight road game victory – the most away wins ever during a single NBL season.

Dejan Vasiljevic with the ???????????????????????? ????️
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– ???? Watch the #NBLFinals Live on ESPN pic.twitter.com/XDIgoHVKo9

— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) May 8, 2022

The Kings then closed out the series in game three, ending their 17-year championship drought in front of 16,000 fans at Qudos Bank Arena. Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin would combine for 45 points and 29 rebounds, and the Kings won their 19th win of their final 21 games.

Cooks would be named the MVP of the finals series, averaging 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists over the three games and at 33 years of age, Buford became the fourth-youngest championship-winning coach in league history, with Bob Turner (1983), Ken Richardson (1982) and Jim Ericksen (1981) the only coaches to win it at a younger age (Two of those were player-coaches).

17 years in the making ????????#WeTheKings #NBL22 pic.twitter.com/Wz7uIGjTr6

— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) May 14, 2022

2022/23
After winning the championship, Sydney would lose its star import trio of Jaylen Adams, Jarrell Martin and Ian Clark to larger overseas deals and be forced to revamp their roster. With the improvement from Xavier Cooks, Dejan Vasiljevic and Angus Glover during the team’s’ title run, Sydney chose to build the team around its local talent and sign imports who could complement their Aussie core. Derrick Walton Jr was brought in to replace the scoring of Jaylen Adams while sharpshooting centre Tim Soares (via Europe) and former Defensive Player of the Year Justin Simon (via Illawarra) became the team’s new import trio. With Makur Maker (to Washington) headed to the NBA, Kouat Noi (via Cairns) was signed and the roster finalised with rookie Jackson Makoi.

Sydney started their quest for back-to-back titles defeating Illawarra, Brisbane and Melbourne to start the season (3-0). The twenty-point win over Melbourne (91-71) was particularly impressive, which included a second quarter where the Kings reeled off a 25-0 while holding United to just six points. The win streak saw Sydney notch up their 15th straight road win – a new NBL record, surpassing the mark set by Canberra’s back-to-back championship teams of the mid-80s.

Sydney suffered its first season loss the following game, with the Cairns Taipans delivering a 83-78 upset. Cairns, who played without injured star Tahjere McCall, did everything right on the defensive end while shooting, the Kings shot themselves in the foot with just 14/25 from the foul stripe. Shannon Scott (16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) led Cairns in scoring in McCall’s absence, with DJ Hogg (15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) influential as well.

Cairns snapped the Kings’ road winning streak, ending it at 17 in a row. Keanu Pinder, who notched up a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds, led the Taipans to a 94-88 comeback victory in a overtime thriller.

On 14 January 2023, it was announced that Bayles would be taking paid leave of absence from Kings for the rest of the 2022–23 season. Bayles finished the year averaging 1.9 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists while the Kings went on to win the 2023 NBL championship.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
2023/24
After a glut of player injuries, Illawarra compiled their worst record in NBL history (3-25), the Hawks were looking for a fresh start in Jacob Jackomas‘ second year as head coach.

Thanks to Perth wanting to move on from veteran Todd Blanchfield, and being happy to cover part of his remaining contract, the Hawks were able to acquire him in a buy-out. With an eye towards the future, young talent Bayles, Mason Peatling (via Melbourne) and former Adelaide 36ers development player, Lachlan Olbrich (via NCAA) were signed.

After being released by Sydney, Bayles was able to get a second chance in the NBL, signing with Illawarra as a development player.

“I am excited to join the Hawks and am thankful to Mat, Jacob and the club for providing me the opportunity to develop my game further here in the Illawarra,” said Bayles at the time of his signing.

At the same time, Korean shooter Hyunjung Lee was signed using the NBL’s ‘Asian player’ rule and NBA prospect AJ Johnson was brought in under the NBL’s Next Stars Program. Import Justin Robinson, who managed just one game before suffering a season-ending injury in 2022, returned to full health, and NBA veteran Gary Clark signed as the team’s third import. Long-serving import Tyler Harvey, captain Sam Froling and guards Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, William “Davo” Hickey and Daniel Grida returned as the Hawk’s core group.

Illawarra showed promising signs during the pre-season, but once the regular season got underway, Illawarra seemed to revert to its old ways, continuing to produce disappointing losses.

Despite solid performances on the court from the likes of Clark (17 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists), Froling (15.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists) and Harvey (15.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals), Illawarra struggled to find its foot early in the season. Hyun-Jung and Peatling began the year under an injury cloud.

By October, the Hawks were sitting at 2-4 with wins against South East Melbourne and Cairns. Illawarra suffered two more brutal defeats in the next month against Sydney and Cairns, which resulted in the team and Jackomas parting ways. Whilst the Hawks looked for a replacement, assistant Justin Tatum stepped up as interim coach.

Once Tatum arrived, they were able to turn things around and won four of their next six games. A knee sidelined Grida (5.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.4 assists) after ten games, but thanks to the emergence of Will Hickey (5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and the signing of former South East Melbourne guard Kyle Adnam as an injury replacement, the Hawks continued to their winning form without missing a beat.

Despite the challenges, the Hawks continued to deliver wins under Tatum, and a late-season charge saw Illawarra finish the regular season in fourth place (14-14).

Illawarra saw a massive improvement in scoring. In the 2022/23 season, the Hawks ranked last for average points with 80.8 points per game. However, this season, they increased their offensive output to 91.6 points per game, enough to finish fourth in the league.

After making the play-in tournament, Illawarra would lose to Tasmania (92-76) in the opening game but turned things around to defeat New Zealand in a nailbiter (88-85), which earned them a spot in the semi-finals against Melbourne.

In game one, despite a solid first half by the Hawks, United would make a dramatic comeback, forcing the game into overtime and won the opening game 115-106.

Illawarra levelled the series, pushing it to a decider after defeating United in a thriller by five points. However, the Hawk’s dream run came up short, missing a Grand Final berth by six points.

Clark would deliver several big-time offensive performances, including his season-high 38 points against Cairns, which saw him voted as the Hawk’s Club MVP and be selected to the All-NBL First Team.

Bayles would appear in 21 games and average 1.7 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists.

Biwali Bayles played three seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Sydney Kings and the Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 2.3 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 48 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 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.