WNBL bombshell: ‘Things will never be the same’

• A championship-winning player could miss WNBL27 as another former champion emerges as a possible replacement
• Major changes to the NBL1 National Championship format are increasingly likely for the 2027 season
• A former Australian Boomers Olympian is almost certain to return to the NBL for the 2027-28 season

As one of Tupac’s many greatest hits said - ‘THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME’

That’s the theme for today as The Splash returns after months in the wilderness.

The Splash is basketball.com.au’s rumour column; we have sources everywhere, and we hear about signings, controversy, hard-hitting news and many other things.

We are here for it – the good, the fun, the funny and the bad.

Here are some of the things we're hearing.

A MAJOR WNBL ROSTER CHANGE

We’re just two weeks away from the start of WNBL preseason and a month from the Townsville Tip-Off as we look towards one of the most anticipated seasons of all-time. There are stars everywhere for WNBL27: WNBA returnees, Opals stars and rising young guns, but which key player could be set to miss the upcoming season?

We won’t give any reasons why, but it’ll be sad to see her miss out on such an exciting season and a chance to help her team return to the finals.

We’ll only give one hint – it’s a player who’s won a championship.

That leaves only about dozens of players to guess from.

We’re also hearing that another former champion could be on teams' radar as a late addition. Still many things to play out before season tip-off in the longest-running Australian women’s sporting competition.

CALLS HAVEN’T FALLEN ON DEAF EARS

It’s an exciting weekend as we see teams from all around the country battle it out in Adelaide for the NBL1 National Championship.

But as we prepare for the sixth edition of the NBL1 National Finals, calls have come to either make drastic changes to the event or scrap it altogether. One of those was our own Jason Cadee, host of the Cut to the Jase podcast, who said NBL teams don’t care about it and it’s not a true indication of the best NBL1 team in the nation.

Well, those calls haven’t fallen on deaf ears, with it all but confirmed there will be major changes for the 2027 season.

We’ve heard everything from moving the season to having conference all-star teams go head-to-head, and plenty of other crazy ideas. But we’re hearing that a change in the middle of the season is likely.

We know some other parts, but we’re sure more details will be confirmed in the coming weeks after this weekend’s tournament concludes.

ANYBODY HEARING ANYTHING?

My word, it’s quiet on the Gold Coast ...

Anyone heard anything about NBL expansion there?

Seems like the train was full steam ahead; Denzel Washington from the movie Unstoppable must’ve stopped in front of that train.

We’re not saying it’s dead or anything … but there was A LOT of talk earlier in the year, but only crickets lately.

Canberra? Newcastle? Are they picking up steam?

BACK ON HOME SOIL

Which former Australian Boomers star is almost certain to return to play NBL for the 2027-28 season?

Joe Ingles has come back; there have been rumours almost every month about Patty Mills coming back (all of which turned out to be false), Andrew Bogut and Brad Newley have done it going a bit further back…

Basketball.com.au understands another Olympian will follow in their footsteps next season.

And let’s just say “it’s about damn time”; we can’t wait to see it.

LEGEND GETS THE… you know what

A legend of Australian basketball will NOT be back as head coach of their respective NBL1 outfit.

This seems like commonplace in local basketball unfortunately.

FRAME SCOTT ROTH & KEEP HIM IN AUS FOREVER

Have you ever met anyone who’s not Australian but their personality, mindset and demeanour is as Aussie as ever?

That’s the way we feel about Tasmania JackJumpers head coach Scott Roth.

It comes after the NBL championship coach gave a radio interview and said he would never be the coach of the Australian Boomers, which we kinda hope is not true.

But he went on to discuss an issue many people talk about, but no one actually involved in the NBL will mention.

And that’s the trend of foreign head and assistant coaches in the league… Roth said he’s part of the problem, which we disagree with, but went on to say there’s a lack of a pathway for Aussie coaches to be part of the country’s top league. He even said no assistant coaches on an NBL staff should be foreign. Which we couldn’t agree more with.

Anyway, it’s something that’s spoken about endlessly in basketball circles, and now that someone of Roth’s stature has brought it up, maybe some people will listen? Who knows, we can only hope!

AMERICANS ARE WORSE THAN US

At abusing officials, that is, calm down.

We sometimes talk in the NBL about how crazy coaches are, talking nonstop to the officials and hearing the odd swear word here and there on the broadcast.

Over the years, it’s probably John Rillie, Trevor Gleeson, and maybe Dean Vickerman who are spoken about the most in this regard.

But watching Becky Hammond get ejected in the WNBA made us realise we are nowhere near as bad as coaches in the NBA and WNBA. Maybe our coaches are better behaved than we think?

In America, even at the collegiate level, coaches get FIRED up and, a lot of the time, get ejected after chasing the official and getting in their face, needing multiple assistants to hold them back before they leave the arena.

Thank god we don’t need to do that here.

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT

A special shout out to Australian Opals coach Sandy Brondello who celebrates her 58th birthday today.

An icon of Australian hoops who probably doesn’t get enough praise for her impact both as a legendary player and now a long-term Opals and WNBA coach.

Currently leading the Toronto Tempo in the WNBA, we can’t wait to see what Sandy and the Opals have in store for us at the FIBA World Cup next month.

‍