The Perth Wildcats recently announced they will not be signing Casey Prather and disappointed fans made little noise, expecting to see him head to Europe for a large payday.
Wait until the Red Army see him carving up their defence while wearing Melbourne United's Navy Blue.
Earlier this month the Wildcats indicated that they are not in a position to match the offers made to Casey Prather and would instead look to move in another direction. NBL Media revealed Perth believed an NBA opportunity was potentially on the horizon for Casey and commented by wishing him "the very best wherever his basketball journey takes him next".
Did that apply to Melbourne as well?
Lachy Reid, a journalist at Channel Ten, dropped the news on his Twitter earlier today.
Casey Prather will play for @MelbUnitedHQ … that will hurts @PerthWildcats fans @nbl#donedeal
— Lachy Reid (@Lachy_Reid) August 10, 2017
Fox Sports journalist Olgan Uluc added he too had been told Prather was headed to Perth.
At the end of July, I was told Casey Prather and Melbourne United were in talks. Looks like it's a done deal. https://t.co/ZIv5ol2yIv
— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) August 10, 2017
After two strong seasons in Perth and more recently an impressive showing at the NBA's Summer League, Prather seems set to have his best season as a professional yet.
During the summer league, he showed a much-improved three-point shot which will make him even more difficult to guard in the NBL.
In five games with the Dallas Mavericks in the Orlando Summer League circuit, Prather shot 40.0 percent from three. In two games with the Cavs, Prather made 50.0 percent of his shots from three-point range.
Over two seasons Prather played 59 games for the Wildcats, led the team to two NBL championships and took him the clubs MVP award, the Gordon Ellis Medallist both seasons he played there.
Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson noted Prather's improvement during an interview with the West Australian.
“Casey is proven as a runner-up in the league MVP. He improved last year, but we also know that when you win two championships, your commodity as a player goes up and other teams with bigger pay cheques look at those players.
Prather must have impressed Melbourne CEO Vince Crivelli in United's last game of the season. That was when Prather visited Melbourne last, in that game time Prather dropped 26 points, 2 rebounds, 11 assists and delivered Perth a two point victory over United.
If you can't beat the Wildcats… offering their best players more money may be the answer. This season, we find out if that's true.
Prather averaged 19.5 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 assists per contest for the Wildcats in 2017/18. During the off-season, he also spent time with German club Ratiopharm Ulm suiting up in 13 games and averaging 8.2 points per match.
Thank YOU, Casey Prather! 🏆🏆
— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) July 26, 2017
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.
