{"id":13411,"date":"2025-07-22T12:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T12:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13411\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T12:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T12:52:10","slug":"jo-lual-acuil-perth-wildcats-sign-former-melbourne-united-star-on-a-two-year-nbl-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/13411\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo Lual-Acuil: Perth Wildcats sign former Melbourne United star on a two-year NBL contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perth Wildcats have been rewarded for their patience and persistence when chasing an Australian marquee player for next season after star big man Jo Lual-Acuil Jnr signed a two-year deal.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats were determined to sign a big name Australian following the departure of Keanu Pinder and struck gold by signing the former Melbourne United centre. Lual Acuil was picked in the All-NBL First Team in 2022 and is a massive signing for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

Having preached patience with the club\u2019s roster build, Wildcats basketball operations manager Danny Mills said he was thrilled to sign a player with the talent of Lual Acuil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe identified Jo early in free agency as someone who would be a perfect fit for what we are building,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a proven winner at NBL level, has played against top competition internationally, and is still performing at an elite level. Beyond the stats, Jo is an exceptional teammate and professional. He will have a major presence on and off the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoCamera IconJo Lual-Acuil fights for the ball. Credit: Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The West Aussie will join imports Kristian Doolittle and Dylan Windler as the biggest names at the club, and Perth is still on the hunt for an import guard for their starting five.<\/p>\n

Coach John Rillie said having Lual Acuil would give the team more weapons at both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cJLA is one of the elite talents in the league, so it\u2019s exciting for us to add him to our roster,\u201d Rillie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has tasted success in this league, so he understands what is needed to win in the NBL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can impact the game at both ends of the floor. Protecting the rim and rebounding. While offensively his ability to score in the paint and stretch the floor will always get the opponent\u2019s respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoCamera IconJo Lual-Acuil is strong at both ends of the court. Credit: Paul Kane\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Lual-Acuil didn\u2019t play in the NBL last season, so his return is significant for both the Wildcats and the league. He said having the opportunity to play for the Wildcats for the first time was huge for his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be coming back home,\u201d Lual-Acuil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the city where I fell in love with the game. I grew up in Perth watching the Wildcats and now I\u2019m looking forward to being part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed playing at RAC Arena, I can\u2019t wait to run out there in front of the Red Army and get to work with JR and the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perth Wildcats have been rewarded for their patience and persistence when chasing an Australian marquee player for next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,15057,15056,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-13411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-nbl","12":"tag-perth-wildcats","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}