BIO: Keifer Sykes was born in Chicago, Illinois (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Keifer Sykes made his NBL debut with the South East Melbourne Phoenix at 27 years of age. He scored 18 points in his first game.

South East Melbourne looked to improve on their debut season, with coach Simon Mitchell providing franchise player Mitch Creek with some additional talent. Cam Gliddon and Reuben Te Rangi (both via Brisbane) were added to help spread the floor, providing more room for Creek to operate inside, and rookie Kiwi duo Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa and Mike Karena came on as development players.

Phoenix fans celebrated when Yanni Wetzell, who was on a number of NBA radars after a standout career at the University of San Diego State, only to see him exercise his European out clause and signed with German team Riesen Ludwigsburg. Imports Ben Moore and Keifer Sykes were then added to finalise the roster.

Due to COVID-19, the NBL was forced to postpone its season and start in January 2021, with the majority of players also asked to reduce their salaries due to the financial pressure caused by the pandemic. The impacts of Covid also created passport complications for Wetzell, who spun 180 and returned to play for the Phoenix after all.

Wetzell (11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) quickly established himself as one of the best young bigs in the competition, and together with Creek (18.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists), who led the team in scoring, and rebounds, provided a powerful one-two punch for the Phoenix.

South East Melbourne evolved into the highest-scoring team in the NBL, getting high-level production from Keifer Sykes (14.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.0 assists), Kyle Adnam (12.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), Cameron Gliddon (10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 steals) and Moore (10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists), who would all top score for the team in different games.

Mid-season, the Phoenix had the opportunity to add Australian Boomers forward Ryan Broekhoff to the roster, who had spent the season sitting on the sidelines, rehabbing a fractured leg and hoping to sign another NBA deal. Broekhoff (7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.8 steals) played out the last 19 games for the Phoenix, signing as an injury replacement player for Dane Pineau, his arrival also pushing development player Mike Karena out of the rotation.

South East Melbourne (19-17) finished in fourth place and reached the NBL playoffs for the first time in their second NBL season. They would go on to face Melbourne (28-8) in a semifinal series, played in empty arenas in Sydney, with both team’s unable to play in Melbourne due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The team split the first two games of the series playing at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, with Creek (26 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists) leading the team in scoring in game two before returning home to play the decider at home. Leading United by as much as 15 points in the second quarter of the final game of the semi-final series (32-15), they gave away a turnaround of almost 30 points to finish 10-point losers (84-74). The Phoenix’s rebounding deficiencies (second last in the league for rebounds) were a major reason for the loss, combined with a season-high scoring effort from United’s big man Jock Landale (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks), who shot 11-13 from the floor and a perfect 3/3 from beyond, didn’t make things any easier.

Creek (19 points) and Reuben Te Rangi, who delivered a season high scoring night (22 points), were the key contributors for South East Melbourne in their final game of the season.

Injuries throughout the season saw Sykes miss 12 games. Had he remained uninjured for the whole season he would be right up in contention for a All-NBL First or Second Team mention. When he was healthy, the dynamic point guard showed off how much of a threat he can be to the NBL competition, and in the semifinals he averaged 17 points and just under three assists a game across the three game series.

Keifer Sykes did him dirty back in NBL21 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XOqD1mgXBb

— NBL (@NBL) May 30, 2024

Keifer Sykes played one season in the NBL. He averaged 14.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5 assists in 27 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (829 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.