BIO: Luca Yates was born in Townsville, QLD and began playing basketball as a junior with the Townsville basketball program. He was a part of the Queensland Under-20 state team for the 2023 Nationals. Yates received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2022. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Luca Yates made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 19 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

After a glut of player injuries, Illawarra compiled their worst record in NBL history (3-25), the Hawks were looking for a fresh start in Jacob Jackomas‘ second year as head coach.

Thanks to Perth wanting to move on from veteran Todd Blanchfield, and being happy to cover part of his remaining contract, the Hawks were able to acquire him in a buy-out. With an eye towards the future, young talent Mason Peatling (via Melbourne), Biwali Bayles (via Sydney) and former Adelaide 36ers development player, Lachlan Olbrich (via NCAA) were signed. At the same time, Korean shooter Hyunjung Lee was signed using the NBL’s ‘Asian player’ rule and NBA prospect AJ Johnson was brought in under the NBL’s Next Stars Program. Import Justin Robinson, who managed just one game before suffering a season-ending injury in 2022, returned to full health, and NBA veteran Gary Clark signed as the team’s third import. Long-serving import Tyler Harvey, captain Sam Froling and guards Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, William “Davo” Hickey and Daniel Grida returned as the Hawk’s core group. Yates would later join the team, signing a development player deal.

Illawarra showed promising signs during the pre-season, but once the regular season got underway, Illawarra seemed to revert to its old ways, continuing to produce disappointing losses.

Despite solid performances on the court from the likes of Clark (17 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists), Froling (15.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists) and Harvey (15.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals), Illawarra struggled to find its foot early in the season. Hyun-Jung and Peatling began the year under an injury cloud.

By October, the Hawks were sitting at 2-4 with wins against South East Melbourne and Cairns. Illawarra suffered two more brutal defeats in the next month against Sydney and Cairns, which resulted in the team and Jackomas parting ways. Whilst the Hawks looked for a replacement, assistant Justin Tatum stepped up as interim coach.

Once Tatum arrived, they were able to turn things around and won four of their next six games. A knee sidelined Grida (5.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.4 assists) after ten games, but thanks to the emergence of Will Hickey (5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and the signing of former South East Melbourne guard Kyle Adnam as an injury replacement, the Hawks continued to their winning form without missing a beat.

Despite the challenges, the Hawks continued to deliver wins under Tatum, and a late-season charge saw Illawarra finish the regular season in fourth place (14-14).

After making the play-in tournament, Illawarra would lose to Tasmania (92-76) in the opening game but turned things around to defeat New Zealand in a nailbiter (88-85), which earned them a spot in the semi-finals against Melbourne.

The Hawk’s playoff run would fall short however, losing the deciding third game by six points.

Yates would appear in only one game, failing to score a point.

Luca Yates currently plays for the Illawarra Hawks and has played 4 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 0 points, 0.2 rebounds, and 0 assists since entering the league in 2023.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Illawarra Hawks – 1 Year Deal (2024-25)

Dan Boyce (811 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.