Brisbane Bullets

Ten foundation clubs, three titles, one licence handed back

The Bullets were one of the ten clubs that started the National Basketball League in 1979. Coached by Bob Young and captained by Bruce Fitzgerald, they won 10 of their 18 games in that first season and finished fifth, with Cal Bruton leading the league in scoring. Home was Auchenflower Stadium until 1983, then Chandler Arena at the Sleeman Sports Centre.

The club's first strong decade came under Brian Kerle. Brisbane topped the table at 19-5 in 1984 and lost its first grand final to Canberra, 84-82. The following year brought the first championship, a 120-95 win over Adelaide in a single-game final played at home. Adelaide took the 1986 series 2-1, and in 1987 Brisbane beat Perth 2-0 for a second title. Leroy Loggins was the constant through it, winning the league's Most Valuable Player award in 1984, 1986 and 1987; his number 30 is one of four retired by the club, alongside Larry Sengstock's 7, Ron Radliff's 22 and Robert Sibley's 52. A further grand final followed in 1990.

The best single season came much later. In 2006-07 the Bullets went 28-5, strung together a 21-game winning run and took a third championship, beating the Melbourne Tigers 3-1 in the finals series. Within 18 months it was gone: owner Eddy Groves ran into financial trouble and the club's licence was returned to the NBL on 30 June 2008.

A return, a wander between arenas, and a 6-27 season

The franchise came back on 17 September 2015, for the 2016-17 season, initially in maroon and gold before reverting to blue and gold in 2017-18. Its address has moved almost as often as its fortunes: the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 1998 to 2008 and again from 2016 to 2019, Nissan Arena from 2019 to 2024, and the 10,500-seat Brisbane Entertainment Centre since 2024 — a building that also housed the club from 1986 to 1997.

Then came the bottom. Justin Schueller was released on 17 February 2025 after an injury-wrecked campaign, and Stu Lash was appointed on a three-year deal on 3 April 2025. Lash stepped down on 18 December 2025 with the team 5-13, and assistant Darryl McDonald was elevated to interim head coach. Brisbane finished 2025-26 at 6-27, tenth of ten, with a 13-game losing streak late in the year and no wins in its final four games. It also went 1-3 in the NBL's new in-season Ignite Cup. Tyrell Harrison was club MVP and captain Mitch Norton took player of the year in a season that offered little else.

The owners reloaded before the roster did

The ownership changed shape first. Larry Kestelman sold his remaining shares, leaving the NBL itself no longer a shareholder in the club; local businessman Ben Haan took a substantial stake, and chairman Jason Levien, in majority ownership since 2019, increased his own.

On 13 March 2026 the Bullets named Will Weaver president of basketball operations and head coach. The American had been an assistant with the Australian Boomers at the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics, won NBA G League Coach of the Year with the Long Island Nets, took the Sydney Kings to the NBL20 regular-season championship, head-coached Paris Basketball, and worked as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets, latterly as a coaching innovation consultant to the Charlotte Hornets. His head-coaching record across three leagues stood at 80-48 from 128 games. "I love Australia, and the opportunity to return and build something special in Brisbane is incredibly exciting for my family and me," he said on appointment. Chief executive Malcolm Watts called him detail-oriented; Levien said the organisation was fully behind him.

A day later, on 14 March 2026, two-time WNBA All-Star Angel Reese joined the ownership group alongside Levien and Haan, announced while she was in Australia with Reebok to launch new colourways of her signature shoe and confirm the brand's WNBL footwear partnership for 2027. Watts described her as a globally recognised ambassador for the game. Reese had previously bought into the USL club DC Power FC in 2024 and the media company TOGETHXR, and founded the Angel C. Reese Foundation in 2023.

Ten games into Weaver's first season

Weaver's squad for NBL27 is built around Harrison and Norton with Nate Hinton, Jaylin Williams, Arnas Velicka, Max Mackinnon, Jacob Holt, Sam McDaniel, Lat Mayen, Taine Murray, Harry Rouhliadeff and Rio Bruton, plus Brazilian guard Raul Neto. Injuries have churned through it all season: Velicka, Williams, Hinton, Holt and McDaniel have all carried knocks, and Neto began the year on the injured list.

The opening night, 22 September 2026, was the club's most-watched night in years — a sold-out 88-85 win over the New Zealand Breakers at the 5,500-seat Pat Rafter Arena with the roof open, Brisbane pulling back a double-figure deficit and Velicka scoring 23. A round-two win over Illawarra followed. On 4 October in Hobart the Bullets led Tasmania by 14, conceded a 13-0 third-quarter run, scored 11 straight to force extra time and lost 109-99, Taran Armstrong finishing with 29. Harrison had 24 points and 12 rebounds and passed 1,000 career NBL rebounds; Mackinnon hit five of eight from three for 21; Velicka handed out 13 assists while going 0-11 from the field in regulation. Weaver's verdict was that his side was "way ahead of schedule".

The honeymoon broke at home on 30 October, when Cairns led 57-35 at the interval and won by 22, making 20 three-pointers against Brisbane's 25 turnovers. Jack McVeigh scored 23 off 5-9 from deep in 27 minutes; Murray's 20 on 5-10 shooting was the only real resistance. Weaver called it an "arse kicking" and a "simple game for complicated people", insisting the fix was in the boring details.

The response arrived three days later. Missing Mayen and Mackinnon to injury, Brisbane went to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on 1 November 2026, where the 36ers were marking 40 years since their 1986 championship team in their first home game since 7 October, and spoiled it 96-89. Brisbane led 30-17 after a quarter and 50-43 at the break. Harrison scored 24 with 10 rebounds on 10-of-13 shooting in 26 minutes before fouling out with under six to play; Hinton had 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Neto 14, Murray 12 with five assists. Bryce Cotton's 27 points for Adelaide came off 2-of-12 from three. The win took the Bullets to 5-5, fifth on the ladder; Adelaide dropped to 5-6.

Where the next three nights are

The 2026-27 regular season is the NBL's 49th, 10 teams playing 33 games each across 21 rounds from 19 September 2026 to 14 February 2027, with FIBA windows closing the league from 23 November to 1 December and again from 22 February to 2 March.

Three Brisbane fixtures are currently on sale. On Wednesday 4 November the club plays its first game back at Nissan Arena since 2024, against Perth, as an Ignite Cup tie — the league's in-season competition runs 20 Wednesday-night games from 30 September 2026 to 10 February 2027, two home and two away per club, with three points for the win and one for each quarter won, half a point each for a tied quarter, and a top-four finals series at AIS Arena in Canberra on 19-21 February 2027 for a $550,000 pool, $300,000 of it to the winner. Then come two Sunday afternoons at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre: Tasmania on 15 November and Sydney on 22 November, both at 4pm, the latter the last home game before the international break.