BIO: Born in the Sydney suburb of Caringbah, Isaac Humphries grew up in Cronulla and started playing basketball at the age of 12 with the Sutherland basketball program.

Humphries attended Scots College in Sydney and attended the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra before taking his game to the United States in December 2014 to play prep ball at La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana.

Humphries earned a scholarship to enrolled play at the University of Kentucky in 2015. Humphries received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2014. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2014).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Isaac Humphries made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 19 years of age. He scored six points in his first game.

After not being selected in the 2017 NBA Draft Humphries returned to Australia and signed with his hometown team the Sydney Kings on 27 July 2017. With the Kings, Humphries averaged 6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 blocks while shooting 58 percent in 16 minutes per game, making six starts in 26 appearances. He was subsequently named the NBL Rookie of the Year.

The Kings finished with a record of 11-17 and in seventh place during the regular season.

Humphries chose to play in the G-League and Europe over the coming seasons in a attempt to fulfill his dream of playing in the NBA.

2020/21
Long time head coach Joey Wright was released from the 36ers at the end of the 2019/20 season despite still having time left on his contract. His departure coincided with accusations of abuse and bullying from players, amongst other off-court issues. Adelaide would replace him with former Perth assistant Conner Henry.

The 36ers began the season with Jack McVeigh, Obi Kyei, Brendan Teys, Daniel Dillon and Alex Mudronja as contracted players.

On 12 March 2020, the 36ers announced that they had signed Josh Giddey, who one month earlier had become the youngest Australian to debut for the Boomers since Ben Simmons on a Next Stars program contract.

The issues stemming from the previous season saw club co-captain Kevin White granted a release from his remaining contract on 15 April 2020 and Harry Froling deciding to sign with the Brisbane Bullets. Lastly, Obi Kyei requested a release from his contract, citing a desire to focus on his clothing line.

A flurry of off-season signings saw the 36ers rebuild their frontcourt, extending five-time club MVP Daniel Johnson to a new three-year on 6 May 2020. 2018 NBL Rookie of the Year Isaac Humphries, fresh from a stint in the NBA, was then signed to a two-year deal, and 25-year-old Keanu Pinder, who returned to Australia after playing in Europe, signed a one-year deal.

On 22 July 2020, former Hawk Sunday Dech joined the 36ers on a three-year deal, and shortly after, import guard Donald Sloan was announced as the team’s first import signing. He was then paired with veteran forward Tony Crocker as the team’s second import to finalise the main roster.

In their season opener, Adelaide chose to start young guns Giddey (18 years) and Humphries (23 years) against Melbourne and suffered a demoralising loss (65-89) which led coach Henry to change tact for game two. Adding some experience into the starting lineup, Sloan replaced Giddey at the point, and Pinder swapped roles with Humphries, the result being a eight point win over South East Melbourne (116-108). Humphries earned the NBL’s Player of the Week after finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks off the bench.

The game was also notable for the nasty fall suffered by Josh Giddey when he fell on his head after a dunk, which saw him miss the next game due to medical advice.

In Adelaide’s third outing for 2020/21, Sloan returned to the starting lineup as the team lost a rematch against South East Melbourne and was sent back to the bench in favour of Josh Giddey for the remaining games. Despite recording a season-high 20 points off the bench in his next game, Sloan’s disinterest in playing off the bench saw him granted a mutual release to pursue playing opportunities elsewhere.

Despite this, Adelaide continued to appear as playoff material, starting the season 4-2 before the NBL season was disrupted by COVID-19. This led to the league installing the NBL Cup, a ‘bubble tournament’ that required the entire league to play the next eight games in Melbourne.

The Sixers struggled to win whilst based in Melbourne and, by the conclusion of the NBL Cup had fallen from third on the ladder to seventh. Although Adelaide would eventually release Kendle (5.1 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists) and bring in former NBA talent Brandon Paul, the 36ers would lose Humphries to injury for the remainder of the season shortly after. Jack Purchase was signed as his injury replacement player and was a part of the team for the remainder of the season.

Daniel Johnson (19.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists) continued to deliver offensively, notching up career-high scoring numbers and leading the 36ers in scoring for the sixth time. He was subsequently named the 36ers co-MVP alongside Josh Giddey (10.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 7.6 assists), who led the league in assists and was also voted NBL Rookie of the Year award.

Humphries averaged 13.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 assists Over the course of the season, as the 36ers slumped to a record of 13-23 and finished the season in seventh place in a disappointing season.

2021/22
Adelaide started the season by adding Mitch McCarron (via Melbourne), Filipino NBA prospect Kai Sotto and Cairns backup guard duo Tad Dufelmeier, and disgruntled Next Star Mojave King, who fled the Taipans due to feeling his lack of playing time was hurting his NBA chances. Imports Dusty Hannahs and Todd Withers were signed to round out the core roster, and then, in a surprise move, Adelaide chose to release coach Connor Henry despite a year remaining on his contract. CJ Bruton, who had just missed on the Brisbane Bullets head coaching role to James Duncan and was one of the few coaches available at the time, was signed as his replacement and took over the team only weeks before the opening game. With the team almost completed, Bruton added Hyrum Harris (also via Cairns) and Cam Bairstow, who, after multiple injury-plagued seasons, drew zero offers from other NBL team’s. Bruton, having worked closely with Bairstow in Brisbane, convinced the big man to come to Adelaide and try to revitalise his career.

29-year-old Mitch McCarron (7.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.9 steals) was selected as the new 36ers captain and positioned as the club’s franchise player moving forward. The Sixers came away winless from round one, losing to Perth (85–73) and Illawarra (71–81) before rebounding in round two to record wins against Tasmania (83-80) and New Zealand (98–85), this would see them reach sixth place (2-2) on the ladder, the highest ranking for the season and only round where they did not have a losing record.

Adelaide would lose Isaac Humphries (7.7 points, 4.8 rebounds in 17.7 minutes) to a knee injury that ruled him out for the season the following round, with the former NBA big man managing only six games for the season. Without Humphries, a reinvigorated Bairstow (11.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) would deliver the best season of his NBL career before also going down to a late-season ankle injury that would ultimately end his NBL career.

With a month remaining in the season and underwhelming seasons from imports Dusty Hannahs (13.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) and Todd Withers (8.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists), Adelaide (7-17) had no chance of making the playoffs and managed to close out the season with some kind of success. Adelaide came close to reeling off four consecutive away wins to end the season, only losing a close one to the Phoenix (91-94) and finished the season for the third consecutive year in seventh position (10-18).

Daniel Johnson (16.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) would lead the 36ers in scoring and collect his second consecutive Mark Davis Award as the club’s Most Valuable Player while bright spots for the team included Hyrum Harris (4.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists), who was voted as the club’s Most Improved Player and Sunday Dech (12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists), who became a solid contributor in his second year at the 36ers.

Humphries averaged 7.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in a season marred by injury (big men Cam Bairstow and Isaac Humphries both missing the majority of the season) and a lack of production from imports Dusty Hannahs and Todd Withers. in a season marred by injuries. The Sixers seeing Isaac Humphries play in only six matches (averaging 7.7 points in 17.7 minutes per game) before a knee injury ruled him out for the season in February and Cam Bairstow also missing 10 games due to injuries at the start and end of the 36ers campaign. This combined with the underwhelming seasons from imports Dusty Hannahs and Todd Withers saw another 36ers season end in disappointment.

MELBOURNE UNITED
2022/23
After Melbourne finished the previous season on top of the ladder but suffered an 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 an 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 teams, 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, an overtime victory against New Zealand (101–97) off the back of a huge night from Rathan-Mayes (33 points, 5rebounds 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 an 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 an 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 an 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 Humphries (9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks), who publicly announced he was gay, as the team spearheaded an NBL pride round which celebrated the LGBTQ+ community.

ADELAIDE 36ERS
2023/24
In 2023/24, Humphries delivered his best NBL season to date, averaging 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1 assists, playing a key role in the 36ers rotation, helping the team finish in a ninth place (12-16).

Isaac Humphries currently plays for the Adelaide 36ers and has played 102 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 11 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 0.9 assists since entering the league in 2017.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Adelaide 36ers – 3 Year Deal (2024-27)

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 48th in blocks per game.

Dan Boyce (798 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.