{"id":724769,"date":"2026-06-09T08:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724769\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:30:14","slug":"uncertainty-over-dpoys-return-as-sem-phoenix-set-on-nba-summer-league-recruiting-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724769\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncertainty over DPOY\u2019s return as SEM Phoenix set on NBA Summer League recruiting trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

South East Melbourne Phoenix remain hopeful the NBL\u2019s reigning Defensive Player of the Year John Brown returns to the club next season despite serious European and Asian interest. The Phoenix have long expressed a desire to retain Brown \u2013 tabling the American forward a multi-year deal in early March. Club officials were happy for the off-contract import to test the open market<\/a> but had a confidence he would re-sign following a breakout maiden NBL season. Three months on the Phoenix are still waiting for Brown to commit to the club \u2013 sparking genuine concern he will sign elsewhere. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood the 34-year-old has strong interest from European and Japanese teams. Brown excelled playing for Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico\u2019s BSN league post the NBL season, averaging 12.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. He also added a league-leading 2.2 steals per contest. <\/p>\n

Code Sports understands South East Melbourne will inform Brown if and when the club is ready to move on. <\/p>\n

On the plus side for the Phoenix \u2013 officials have long been surveying the market for a backup option in case the gun forward opted to join an overseas club. <\/p>\n

South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King will attend the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas next month in a bid to find a point guard and potentially other players. The Phoenix are building a formidable roster for NBL27 after signing United\u2019s Tanner Krebs and title-winning Kings big Hunter Goodrick. South East Melbourne proved they belonged as a title contender last season but need to perform under pressure in the big games to take the next step. <\/p>\n

Originally published as Will reigning Defensive Player of the Year return to the NBL? SEM\u2019s slim hope amid overseas interest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South East Melbourne Phoenix remain hopeful the NBL\u2019s reigning Defensive Player of the Year John Brown returns to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[2095,351032,64,63,328300,351030,726,351035,136884,2105,351036,84276,4473,171106,351028,68102,2041,2067,351029,351033,41634,351031,351034,85,23055,2614],"class_list":["post-724769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-america","tag-asian-interest","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-basketballer","tag-backup-option","tag-basketball","tag-breakout-maiden","tag-club-officials","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-japanese-teams","tag-joe-ingles","tag-josh-king","tag-krebs","tag-league-in-las-vegas","tag-matt-logue","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-off-contract-import","tag-overseas-interest","tag-puerto-rico","tag-recruiting-trip","tag-scouting-trip","tag-sports","tag-title-contender","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724769","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=724769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}