Marcus Lee to join Bryce, Prather to become an Aussie

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Veteran NBL big man Marcus Lee is set to join the long list of American imports to become Australian residents as the former University of Kentucky stars weighs up his future in the league for next season.

Hot on the footsteps of six-time MVP Bryce Cotton, who is now an Aussie, Lee is alongside three-time NBL champion Casey Prather as imports that have started the process of gaining permanent residency.

The 31-year-old first arrived in the NBL with Melbourne United in November, 2022 and has become one of the most sought after role players in the league, helping the Tasmania JackJumpers to the 2024 championship and United to the 2025 Championship Series.

Following a season with his JackJumpers championship teammate Jack McVeigh at the Cairns Taipans in NBL26, Lee remains a free agent but has interest from several teams ahead of NBL27.

"I'm currently in the process, we started our our permanent residency... which would lead me to be a Aussie citizen this time next year," he said on the Cut to the Jase with NBL legend Jason Cadee.

"(My wife and I have) talked about it, like where do we even just see ourselves retiring and just kind of living for the foreseeable future and we're like we definitely love Australia and that's one of our big pushes to be like let's work on getting this citizenship and if we want to stay here even after basketball we can.

"I think that's what really drove us is that we just love the culture of Australia."

Going into his fifth season in the NBL, Lee has been part of the league in its best era as it goes to new levels with crowds, hype, broadcast deals and many other factors and the man who has played in the G League as well as in Europe and Asia, he said it's one of the best competitions to be part of in the world.

"I mean, I personally think this is probably the best league set up anywhere," Lee said on the basketball.com.au podcast.

"The NBL has it figured out when it comes to travel, accommodations, player salary and just the culture of the NBL. We have so many guys that just come here and you want to stay here because it's how great it is and how well created it is.

"They're constantly changing things every year, but it's still well put together from top down. I tell everybody that the best way to describe it is each team is created like a business, it's not just like a makeshift team, like a lot of Europeans teams are.

"It gives you a lot of like, ease to just play basketball."

As a rim protector and locker room culture guy that every team desires, Lee is sought after in free agency before NBL27 like he has been every season but the San Francisco native said where he lands is up in the air right now after returning from playing in Asia.

"At the moment, we've been talking to a couple different teams um out here, but I since me get coming back, I've talked to my agent and I'm like 'hey, I really don't want to deal with any of this right now, this is all up to you'," he said.

"I'm taking like a a little break and and taking a step back out of basketball and kind of just getting my body back to normal, getting a little bit more weight put on me and getting back into the gym after a little bit of break."

Lee averaged 6.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 blocks per game for the Taipans last season and has averaged 7.2 points, six rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 assists per game throughout his NBL career.