Sources within NBL teams say Jonah Bolden is open to playing in the NBL after missing out on an NBA roster spot this week.
Sources say Bolden’s agent Daniel Moldovan has been in talks with the remaining NBL teams letting them know Bolden does not intend to play in the G-League and open to NBL offers.
The Perth Wildcats and the Melbourne United are the only teams who have both an open roster spot in their starting frontcourt and the budget to sign a player of Bolden’s calibre. With United believed to be waiting on the NBA outcome of Jock Landale it puts Perth in the prime position to sign him.
With big question marks hovering over the NBA and Europe mid-year, the Perth Wildcats reached out to several US and European based players like Angus Brandt, Mangok Mathiang and Bolden but they all confirmed they were committed to playing overseas.
This week multiple players from Euroleague teams Efes Istanbul and Olympiacos tested positive to COVID-19 and the season schedule is continuously changing dates. With the challenges Euroleague is facing from coronavirus it seems almost certain Bolden will return to Australia for the 2020-21 season.
With COVID-19 presenting a number of challenges to the Euroleague season even starting, Bolden playing his first season in the NBL is an almost certainty.
Brandt and Mathiang both signed deals in Europe while Bolden waited hopefully for another shot in the NBA. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen this week and now with NBA preseason games only two weeks away and most NBA teams already completed their 15 man roster talks between Bolden and the Wildcats have heated up once again.
The Wildcats had finalised their local roster in November but an Achilles injury in early to Majok Majok causing him to miss the season saw the Wildcats in need of a replacement.
The list of available big men in November was pretty thin. Most NBL rosters had finalised 80%-90% of their rosters and the only big men available on the NBL Free Agent list were either players at the end of their careers ie. David Andersen, Alex Pledger or unproven talents like Jarred Bairstow (brother to Cam Bairstow) and Nelson Kahler.
Both Bairstow and Kahler have been training with the Wildcats since the border was opened between Western Australia and Queensland but neither are in the same league as former NBA player Bolden.
The opportunity for an NBL team to sign Bolden has come out of the blue and the Wildcats are expected to move quickly.
An announcement on Bolden’s future is expected next week.
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.
