26
Oct
Aussies in the NBA
Matisse begins to paint Boomers picture for Caporn
Los Angeles Lakers’ Matisse Thybulle high-fives teammates before their game against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on October 26, 2026 (AEDT). Photo: Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images. Copyright 2026 NBAE.
Highlights
Thybulle is shooting 46.7% from three for the 3-0 Lakers, and the Boomers have one naturalised spot.
- Thybulle is 7-for-15 from three in three starts for the unbeaten Lakers.
- FIBA allows one naturalised player per team, putting him in direct competition with Bryce Cotton.
- He is a two-time All-Defensive Second Teamer, averaging 2.8 steals per 36 minutes.
Australian Boomers bronze medallist Matisse Thybulle is channelling the mystique of the Los Angeles Lakers' famous number 4 jersey in his first three games for the league's most famous franchise.
The now-healthy 29-year-old Australian-American switched from 26 to 4 and is shooting 46.7% from three in his first three starts for the 3-0 Luka Dončić-led Lakers.
The other famous #4s: Showtime Lakers three-time champion shooting guard Byron Scott; two-time Shaq-and-Kobe champion guard Ron Harper; back-to-back 2009 and 2010 champion Luke Walton; and 2020 champion Alex Caruso.
Eight of the Lakers' nine championship teams since 1985 have had a player wear the number. The exception is the 2002 team, the year after Harper retired.
The Lakers signed Thybulle to a veteran league-minimum deal worth USD $3,286,399 in the offseason, and he's shaping up as one of the NBA's best bargains. He's shooting 7-for-15 from behind the arc and 10-for-20 (50%) from the field in 24.3 minutes, his most minutes since the 2022-23 season.
"The things I've got better at offensively and grown at in the league are the things I think complement Luka (Doncic) and AR (Austin Reaves) well: being able to space the floor, be ready for corner threes and fast-break opportunities," Thybulle said at Media Day.
"I can be a floor-spacing piece and an option for them on the fast break."
If Thybulle keeps shooting above 40% from three, it changes his profile for both the Lakers and the Boomers, because Lakers head coach JJ Redick already understands, and trusts, his absurd impact on the defensive side of the ball.
"When he's playing that free safety role, when he's off the ball with Ziaire (Williams) on-ball or (Quentin Grimes) on-ball, he's a playmaker," Redick said this week.
"He's a defensive playmaker. I think Matisse hit those threes in the second half. They were momentum-swinging threes."
Here are four reasons Thybulle will give Boomers head coach Adam Caporn headaches at the 2027 FIBA Men's World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.
1. Only one naturalised player per national team
FIBA rules allow only one "restricted" player per team, so Thybulle's return to the Boomers now has direct competition. He won "Rose Gold" with the Australian Boomers at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo but was brutally left out of the 2024 Olympic Games team in Paris. Enter six-time MVP Bryce Cotton ($473,900), who became an Australian citizen in the NBL offseason and made his Boomers debut in Perth in a pair of World Cup qualifiers.
There can only be one. Both are absolutely good enough to not only make the team but start.
Caporn is in a tough position: take the nine-time NBL scoring champion or the man with the most steals per 36 minutes and Stocks (steals + blocks) in the NBA since 2019 to partner with Dyson Daniels, who has averaged the most steals per game since 2022.
2. His defence is more than elite
No player has been more disruptive than the 1.96m, 91kg defender with a 2.13m wingspan (7'0 in the old scale) since 2019. Thybulle has averaged 3.8 steals per 100 possessions (2.8 per 36 minutes) in his career. The next closest is Los Angeles Clippers guard Kris Dunn, with 3.1 over the past seven years. The parameter is more than 300 games.
He made the All-Defensive Second Team in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting both years.
Thybulle ranks second in the league in Stocks (steals plus blocks) at 4.17 per 36 minutes over the same period. Only Detroit Pistons big Paul Reed (4.28) is ahead of him. Every other player in the top 12 is a centre or power forward: Mitchell Robinson, Daniel Gafford, Jaren Jackson Jr., Myles Turner, Anthony Davis. He's the only guard until OKC's Caruso at #13 with 3.1.
He averages 1.4 blocks per 36 minutes over his career (298 in total) and has a 3.4% block rate.
In limited minutes, 2025-26 was his best season for steals: 60 steals in 480 minutes, 4.5 per 36, and a career-high 6.0% steal rate (six per 100 possessions).
His Defensive Box Plus/Minus is +3.5 for his career, and +6.1 in 2025-26 in those limited minutes.
For the Lakers, he's averaged two steals and 3.7 deflections per game. Daniels leads the league with an extraordinary 8.0 deflections per game. The Bendigo-born Atlanta Hawks star has also snatched 13 steals in three games to lead the league (already) by three versus Dunn's 10.
Thybulle shrinks the floor because of his length; he can guard 1 through 4 and recover from weak-side help to turn open shots into contested ones.
3. Defence wins championships & medals
"Defence wins championships" – Michael Jordan
"Defence wins championships" – Angel Reese, Tuesday, October 27, 2026 after Game 5 of the WNBA Finals.
"In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defence. You've got to stop other teams to win" – Pat Riley.
"Defence is the best offence" – Red Auerbach.
"Offence sells tickets. Defence wins championships" – Bear Bryant.
You get the picture. Sure, it's NBA 2K26, but the folks who hand out the ratings had both Thybulle and Daniels with a 98 in steals, the highest of any player in the game.
Few players have taken the ball off opponents at Daniels' rate since he entered the league in 2022. The 2.01m, 90kg guard, with a 2.1m wingspan, has averaged 3.3 steals per 100 possessions (2.5 per 36) in his career. That puts him between Thybulle (3.8) and Dunn (3.1) in 275 games vs Thybulle's 300-plus-game cut (above). Daniels' peak was the 2024-25 season, when he averaged 4.2 steals per 100 possessions, led the league with 229 steals, won Most Improved Player and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Daniels is a thief, not a rim protector. He has averaged 0.6 blocks per 36 for a career Stocks figure of 3.05, a shade below Caruso's 3.1 and well behind Thybulle's 4.17.
Both Thybulle and Daniels are tough point-of-attack defenders, but they are exceptional off the ball; unfortunately, we can only imagine what the 2027 World Cup team would look like with two-time NBA All-Defensive First Teamer, 2.08m Ben Simmons, Thybulle, Daniels, and 2.08m rim protector Will Magnay on the floor at the same time. Quick reminder: Simmons, 30, led the league in steals in 2019-20.
Fortunately, the Olympics are in two years, enough time for Simmons to recover from the Achilles tear that ended his 2026-27 comeback with the Sacramento Kings and get back out on the floor.
4. Thybulle is in the NBA and going against Luka Dončić in practice
For his first five years, Thybulle averaged fewer than 12 missed games a season. In the following seasons, he missed 119 of a possible 164 games, two-thirds of his career total. That's a lot less miles on the legs than other 29-year-old, eight-season veterans.
His bag isn't as deep as Cotton's. That is exactly why he needs to keep shooting the three at a high clip, since the Boomers don't have a legit NBA-level scorer outside the now-38-year-old "FIBA Patty" Mills.
Thybulle's advantage is that he's in the NBA and Cotton isn't. He's guarding Dončić in practice. Luka is averaging 34.3 points in just 35 minutes to start the season, including the 52-point game against Josh Green's Utah Jazz on Monday, October 26, 2026 (AEDT).
(Thybulle guarded Dončić in the 2021 bronze-medal playoff between the Boomers and Slovenia).
Thybulle will get plenty of chances to knock down open threes and attack the rim, given the attention Dončić and Austin Reaves get on every possession.
Early signs suggest Thybulle is a key part of Redick's game plan: surround Dončić with elite wing defenders who can shoot.
The Lakers are unbeaten, and Adam Caporn has the makings of a headache well into 2027.
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