BIO: Banjo Talbot was born in Manly (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Manly basketball program. Talbot received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 4037. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Banjo Talbot made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

After Sydney was eliminated by Melbourne in the 2019 semifinals, Australian Boomers assistant Will Weaver replaced Andrew Gaze as head coach and the Kings added Casper Ware (via Melbourne), Jae’Sean Tate (via Antwerp), Shaun Bruce (via Adelaide), Lucas Walker (via Cairns) and Next Star Didi Louzada. Manly junior Banjo Talbot had spent 2019 with Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence before receiving two opportunities with Sydney during January while remaining part of the Centre of Excellence program.

Talbot (0 points) made his NBL debut against Adelaide on January 4, playing the final 79 seconds as Sydney defeated the 36ers 91-77. Tate (20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks) and Newley (20 points and 6 rebounds) led the Kings, while Jerome Randle (24 points and 6 assists) was Adelaide’s best.

Talbot (0 points across 2 games) received one further opportunity against Cairns on January 11, playing the final 45 seconds of Sydney’s 92-83 victory. No injury was identified as preventing further appearances, with the young centre remaining outside Sydney’s regular rotation while continuing his development with Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.

Ware (18.2 points and 3.7 assists across 33 games) led Sydney in scoring, Tate (17 points and 5.7 rebounds across 33 games) was named to the All-NBL First Team and won the Kings’ club MVP, while Newley (11.7 points and 4.5 rebounds across 33 games), Louzada (9.9 points and 3.6 rebounds across 25 games), Bogut (8.2 points and 8.7 rebounds across 30 games), Kickert (7.9 points across 33 games), Bruce (7 points and 3.1 assists across 33 games) and Cooks (6.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks across 19 games) helped the Kings finish first with a 20-8 record.

Talbot did not appear during the postseason, where Sydney defeated Melbourne 2-1 in the semifinals before facing Perth in the Grand Final. The Kings lost game one 88-86, won game two 97-83 and lost game three 111-96 before withdrawing from the series amid the COVID-19 outbreak, with Perth awarded the championship while leading 2-1.

Banjo Talbot played one season in the NBL.