Cleveland detailed how a single exhibition game in 2017 ultimately led to back-to-back DPOY awards years later.
Cleveland \u2014 the only import to win consecutive Defensive Player of the Year trophies since Darnell Mee 20 years ago \u2014 graduated from Southeast Missouri State in 2017. <\/p>\n
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One of his first opportunities came when NBL legend Chris Goulding was rushed in for an appendectomy, leaving Melbourne United one player short for their exhibition match with the Thunder.<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 05: Antonius Cleveland of the 36ers drives to the basket under pressure from Rayjon Tucker of United during the round 18 NBL match between Melbourne United and Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena, on February 05, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
He recalled how that moment opened a door and a chance to play against the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris Goulding had to have emergency surgery and they (United) needed a player at the last minute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo after a phone call, I met Melbourne in Oklahoma City in 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melbourne United faced OKC on October 9, 2017, falling short 86\u201385. Cleveland played 13 minutes scoring two points. <\/p>\n
\u201cCasper (Ware) was on that team as well. Casper, Casey Prather and Josh Boone,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played one game with them and after the game I spoke with Dean (Vickerman) and the staff and they was like, \u2018come on and join, we want you.\u2019 At that time I was fixated on the NBA, so I just was like, ah, not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that one game left a mark.\u201cI always had Australia in the back of my mind. And just when the opportunity came, me and my agent thought it was the best decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melbourne United went on to win the NBL championship that season \u2014 defeating the Adelaide 36ers in a 3\u20132 series \u2014 a team Cleveland would ironically join in 2022.<\/p>\n
CLUTCH! Boomers win it at the buzzer | 00:11<\/p>\n
Two NBL seasons later for the Illawarra Hawks and Adelaide 36ers, Cleveland hoped to re-sign with Adelaide. But in late July 2023, EuroLeague powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv delivered an offer he couldn\u2019t ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it was up to me, I would have returned to Adelaide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Adelaide so much and Australia so much that I was almost about to give up a EuroLeague\u2026 but to be honest, that\u2019s a no-no. You can\u2019t do that. My agent was like, I know you love Australia. I know you love Adelaide, but you have to do this for your career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the emotional difficulty of leaving, turning down a giant club in Europe is not something one should consider.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t turn away one of the best teams in Europe because you want to keep chilling with your feet in the sand in Australia,\u201d he said.
\u201cAs a pro and an elite player, you take elite jobs, you take the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough, man\u2026 me and my family, I did not want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now playing in Europe\u2019s top competitions, Cleveland says he still has unfinished business in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to return to the NBL and I want to return to the 36ers,\u201d he said.
\u201cIt\u2019s always been on my to-do list since I left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview in the video player above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-time NBL Defensive Player of the Year Antonious Cleveland left college without ever hearing of the NBL. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[2095,64,63,689,726,16883,68088,3499,182058,150383,4311,145218,2105,182061,182057,39518,647,1736,2041,2067,677,3371,5673,5548,40819,10113,182059,85,19698,182060,2614,660],"class_list":["post-323602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-basketball","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-chris-goulding","tag-daniel-pockett","tag-elite-jobs","tag-elite-player","tag-emergency-surgery","tag-exhibition-match","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-giant-club","tag-impressive-import-careers","tag-josh-boone","tag-melbourne","tag-new-zealand","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-oklahoma","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-phone-call","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-single-exhibition-game","tag-sports","tag-steven-adams","tag-unexpected-phone","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323602","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=323602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}