{"id":652809,"date":"2026-05-06T07:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652809\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:18:10","slug":"adelaide-36ers-nbl-coach-mike-wells-quits-a-month-after-team-loses-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652809\/","title":{"rendered":"Adelaide 36ers NBL coach Mike Wells quits a month after team loses championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Wells has stepped down from his role as Adelaide 36ers head coach, a month after the basketball team lost the NBL championship series to the Sydney Kings<\/a> in the fifth and deciding game.<\/p>\n

Wells recently signed a contract extension for two more seasons, but said the decision to stand down came after a lot of reflection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built in Adelaide over the past two seasons,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The players, staff and fans have made my family and me welcome.<\/p>\n

“Adelaide is a special place, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the 36ers.<\/p>\n

“But having spent some time back home in Utah with my sons, seeing my dad who is getting older, realising I have been away from family for much of the past three decades, I know the decision to step down to be with my family is right.”<\/p>\n

\"Bryce<\/p>\n

Bryce Cotton dribbles the ball for the 36ers as the Kings’ Matthew Dellavedova defends in game one of the championship series. (AAP: Mark Evans)<\/p>\n

The American replaced former head coach Scott Ninnis<\/a> in the role two years ago.<\/p>\n

Ninnis was sacked one season into a two-year contract.<\/p>\n

He replaced CJ Bruton, who was also sacked after a poor on-court performance.<\/p>\n

Adelaide 36ers executive chair Grant Kelley said the club was disappointed to lose Wells but fully supported his decision.<\/p>\n

“While we would have loved Mike to continue leading the program, we completely understand and respect his decision to prioritise his family,” Mr Kelley said.<\/p>\n

The Sydney Kings won the NBL title over the 36ers on Easter Sunday with a dramatic 113-101 overtime scoreline.<\/p>\n

It was the Kings’ third title in the past five seasons, while the 36ers have not lifted the championship trophy since 2002.<\/p>\n

The 36ers will start searching for a new coach immediately.<\/p>\n

The 36ers dismissed rumours Wells would leave the club a week after their loss to the Kings.<\/p>\n

Wells was the subject of several rumours during the season, with the club rejecting claims of disharmony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Wells has stepped down from his role as Adelaide 36ers head coach, a month after the basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[48979,620,64,63,726,232470,590,15057,588,85,68107,2489,2957,1197],"class_list":["post-652809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-adelaide-36ers","tag-american","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-mike-wells","tag-nba","tag-nbl","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-sydney-kings","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-utah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652809","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=652809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}