{"id":528892,"date":"2026-03-11T10:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/528892\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:37:09","slug":"bullets-appoint-new-coach-trumpet-wnba-star-investor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/528892\/","title":{"rendered":"Bullets appoint new coach, trumpet WNBA star investor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Weaver will return to Australian basketball as Brisbane’s latest coach, the former Sydney mentor tasked with lifting the battling Bullets off the NBL pine.<\/p>\n

The former Boomers assistant was confirmed as the club’s new head coach and president of basketball operations on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Weaver replaces Darryl McDonald, who held an injury-ravaged squad together as interim head coach for the Bullets’ last 15 games of the season after Stu Lash’s short-lived tenure ended in December.<\/p>\n

It comes as the club revealed high-profile WNBA star Angel Reese’s investment in the Bullets’ bid to become the 10th WNBL outfit next year.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

Copping endless injuries to key players, the Bullets limped to a 6-27 record and finished last to continue their poor record since the former NBL powerhouse returned to the league a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Weaver led the Kings to the 2019-20 minor premiership before the NBL called off the finals series with Perth leading 2-1 and Sydney unwilling to travel west, citing COVID-19 safety concerns.<\/p>\n

He then was pipped for the Oklahoma City Thunder top job by Mark Daigneault, instead working as a Houston assistant, before a stint as Paris Basketball head coach between further appointments with a number of NBA teams.<\/p>\n

The Bullets have made just one post-season appearance since their return to the league, and have not finished higher than seventh in the past four years.<\/p>\n

They were regular finalists in the late 1990s, but the last of their three championships came in 2007, when the Bullets won 21 straight games to claim the title.<\/p>\n

“I love Australia, and the opportunity to return and build something special in Brisbane is incredibly exciting for my family and me,” Weaver said.<\/p>\n

“The Bullets have a strong foundation: passionate supporters, committed ownership, and a great city to call home.<\/p>\n

“My focus now is building a basketball program that reflects that support and can compete at the highest level. The goal is to build a program that makes the city proud.”<\/p>\n

The Bullets copped criticism for appointing Lash, who had no professional head-coaching experience.<\/p>\n

“Will has all the attributes of a great coach and his resume attests to that,” club boss Malcolm Watts said.<\/p>\n

The WNBL plans to expand from eight to 10 teams next season, with Tasmania already locked in as the long-standing league’s newest franchise.<\/p>\n

“Angel is a fantastic ambassador for basketball and a globally recognised superstar,” Watts said of the two-time WNBA All-Star’s investment.<\/p>\n

“Basketball is Queensland’s fastest-growing sport, and having Angel involved as we pursue a WNBL team is a huge asset.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Weaver will return to Australian basketball as Brisbane’s latest coach, the former Sydney mentor tasked with lifting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-528892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}