'Everybody's replaceable': Report Phoenix, Mays part ways

• Skylar Mays and the Phoenix parted ways after 11 games, Code Sports reported
• He averaged 15.0 points as a starter, then 6.0 off the bench
• Josh King said everybody is replaceable after the loss to Sydney

American import point guard Skylar Mays' reported release by South East Melbourne Phoenix is "certainly not a shock", an NBL insider has told basketball.com.au.

The 29-year-old veteran of 114 NBA regular season and playoff games and the Phoenix parted ways on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, Code Sports Basketball's Michael Randall reported.

Mays started the first seven games, averaging 15.0 points and 5.3 assists in 26.6 minutes. He scored in double figures in six of them, with a season-high 20 points and six assists in the loss at Brisbane on October 15. The Phoenix went 2-5 in those games.

He came off the bench from October 17, and his minutes and output fell away. In the last four games, he averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 assists in 16.7 minutes, on 8-from-25 shooting. That included four points in 14 minutes against Tasmania, and two points on 1-from-7 in 11 minutes in the 110-99 loss to the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

Over 11 games, he averaged 11.7 points, 4.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds, shooting 38.6% from the field and 17-from-54 from three.

Head coach Josh King hinted Mays, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was on borrowed time after the Phoenix gave up a 21-point lead to the Kings, dropping to 4-7 on the season.

"Just him playing better," King said.

"You need to see him playing better, contributing to winning.

"Doesn't necessarily have to be points, but it's not just with him. It's with a lot of different guys, too.

"He's the easy guy to pick on, but we need better efforts from multiple guys."

King was asked if the Phoenix were prepared to make a move after 11 games.

"Look, I think everybody knows everybody is replaceable, including myself," he added.

"This is professional sports. It's a performance-based business that we're in at the end of the day.

"Again, he's a capable basketball player, and we just need him to play better."

South East Melbourne face the Illawarra Hawks on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, in the Ignite Cup, and King had a simple message for his team.

"I just told the guys we've got to stick together," he said.

"It's tough. Any loss is tough. It's emotional.

"But we did do good things in this game. Sydney Kings are a very good basketball team. We have to understand that we're on the road. They're a top team in the league for a reason.

"We did a lot of things that should give us a chance to win the game, but there's a lot of things that we have to clean up.

"The good news is we don't have to wait eight, nine days, 10 days to play a basketball game.

"Hopefully, we can get into some type of rhythm here as we have more games coming up quickly."

In SuperCoach NBL, Skylar Mays ($277,000) averaged 21.5. He made 27.6 a game as a starter and 11.0 off the bench, scored single figures in each of his last two games, and fell $76,000 to $201,000. He was owned by 3.2% of teams at the Round 8 lockout.