Five-headed Snake: Cairns’ big signing spree

The Cairns Taipans have gone on a signing spree ahead of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 Season, announcing the addition of five new players.

In the off-season, the club promised fans they would make a splash in Free Agency and push to compete for a Championship. On Wednesday, they delivered.

Admiral Schofield was playing in the NBA as recently as last year, appearing in 131 games with Washington and Orlando.

The small forward most recently suited up in the French first division with LDLC ASVEL, following his NBA career and several stints in the G League.

Fellow American Ashton Hagans is set to take over the point guard position, with the 26-year-old most recently playing for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China.

Hagans boasts NBA experience with both Minnesota and Portland and stands at 191 centimetres.

There has been plenty of talk about the reported signing of Reyne Smith in recent weeks, with the Australian sharpshooter now officially putting pen to paper with the club.

Smith, currently impressing at the FIBA Asia Cup with the Boomers, has signed a two-year deal with a second-year club option.

"He's got a great history of working with rookies and being successful with them,” the 22-year-old college graduate told basketball.com.au recently, referring to head coach Adam Forde.

"It's going to give me a lot of confidence out there playing my game, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Meanwhile, NBL24 champion Marcus Lee has also joined the Taipans on a one-year deal.

Lee was a key figure for the Tasmania JackJumpers in their title-winning campaign and just as important for Melbourne United in another Championship Series appearance in his most recent season.

The 211-centimetre import adds valuable experience to a talented group of bigs, including Sam Waardenburg and Kyrin Galloway.

Another emerging Australian talent has also signed on, with Mawot Mag, a graduate of Brigham Young University, agreeing to a two-year deal with a second-year club option.

“We needed to be patient with our recruiting this offseason, as we wanted to keep tradition with our ability to attract and develop young talent, while also landing some massive signatures. Balance is still key, and we feel like we’ve landed exactly where we wanted to,” Forde said.  

"Reyne Smith and Mawot Mag start their pro career with us, alongside Kody Stattmann and Alex Higgins-Tisha who have both been elevated from development player status last season to fully contracted which is another huge success for our pathways.

“Acquiring Jack McVeigh is a massive coup for the Club and joins Sam Waardenburg in our front court. For a coach, it’s an exciting prospect having these two marquee-level locals that will complement each other on the court. Kyle Adnam and Kyrin Galloway round out our local group that obviously bring something unique to their role.

“All three imports come with a background of high character, hard work and leadership qualities. Marcus Lee knows the league well and has had so much success since arriving in Melbourne three seasons ago. Both new to Australia, Ashton Hagans and Admiral Schofield are NBA players who pride themselves on the defensive end that we’ll look to put in positions to capitalise on the offensive end, too.

“It’s been an incredible offseason for everyone involved, but what Mark [Beecroft] and Troy [Stone] have done extensively to get us into this position has gone unseen but needs to be acknowledged. All the credit belongs to them.”