Kings Secure Young Gun Biwali Bayles for NBL22

The Sydney Kings have announced that Australian guard Biwali Bayles will join the club for the 2021-2022 Hungry Jack’s NBL Season. The Sydney local from Redfern will join the Kings on a multi-year contract.

One of Australia’s exciting up-and-coming young talents, the Junior National Team representative helped Australia secure a gold medal at the 2019 FIBA U17 Oceania Championships averaging 9.5 points and 3 assists. He was also one of just four Aussies selected to attend the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Chicago early last year.

A proud young Indigenous man, Bayles is looking forward to representing the purple and gold.

“I’m definitely very excited to be signing with the Kings and playing for my hometown team. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was very young, and I’m excited that I’ll now be playing alongside these guys that I’ve looked up to coming through my junior years” Bayles said.

“I’m looking forward to playing in front of my family and friends and representing my whole area. I’m keen to get them all more involved in watching more basketball and really putting my area on the map” he added.

“It’s been a goal of mine while I was growing up to always try to make the right decisions and be a good role model for not only the people in my community, but also my two little brothers as well. I want to lead the way for young indigenous kids coming through, and to be someone they can look up to and see that if someone from our area is doing what I’m doing, they can do it too” Bayles shared.

A junior with the Sydney Comets, Bayles is a product of the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence program. In 2020 he represented the NSW State Team at the U20 Australian Junior Championships where he averaged 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. This also included a 30 point, 10 rebounds and 11 assists triple-double against South Australia. He went on to be named in the FOX Sports All-Star Five for the tournament.

Most recently Bayles is coming off the back of a successful Freshman year at the University of Hawai’i, before making the decision to continue his playing career back home in Australia.

In his first year, the talented guard played in all 21 games where he started in 12 of them, including the final seven of the season. Throughout the season Bayles averaged 6.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists as well as shooting an impressive 43% from 3-point range and leading the team in assists. His shooting prowess was put on display against CSUN where he hit the game winning 3-point shot to give Hawai’i the 75-74 win.

Kings CEO Chris Pongrass is excited to be welcoming another young Sydney talent into the Club.  

“I have been tracking Biwali’s development for a number of years, and I’m impressed with the strides he has made at the Centre of Excellence and University of Hawai’i. Being a Sydney native, we have long discussed having him suit up for his local team, and we are thankful that day has finally arrived.”

“Our members and fans should be very excited for what Biwali will bring to our group next season and in the years to come. Providing serious depth for us at the guard position, he is a tough competitor, a bulldog defender and plays with a lot of passion and competitiveness. We love team first players on this squad and that’s exactly the type of player Biwali embodies”.

“We are privileged to welcome a proud Indigenous athlete into our program and we look forward to having him play an integral part both on and off the court”.

“We remain intent on building a destination club that continues to breed, develop and attract high-level athletes; Biwali is another example of this and the long-term commitment we have for our young emerging core”.

Bayles has already returned to Sydney from the US and has been spending time on court with the playing group. He’ll officially join the team for 2021-22 NBL pre-season later in the year.