Larry Sengstock Trophy Panel Announced

The five-person voting panel for the Larry Sengstock Trophy has been announced, and will be made up of Sengstock himself, Andrew Gaze, Casey Frank, Tim Morrissey and Olgun Uluc.

The trophy will be awarded to the player identified as the MVP of the Championship Series, and each of the panel will award three votes to the player they deemed best on court, two votes to the second best and one vote to the third best after each game.

Sengstock was the first ever NBL Grand Final MVP for his contributions to the St Kilda Saints’ win over the Canberra Cannons in 1979. He ended his career with five NBL championships and was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Gaze is generally considered as the greatest NBL player of all-time, and won two championships in a storied career at the Melbourne Tigers. He also won a record seven MVP awards across his career, and the trophy has since been named after him. He also coached the Sydney Kings between 2016-2019.

Casey Frank represented the New Zealand Breakers, Wollongong Hawks and Gold Coast Blaze in his NBL career, and also lined up for the Tall Blacks. He retired as a four-time NZNBL champion and commentates for Sky Sports.

Tim Morrissey is the National Deputy Sports Editor and Sports Commercial Editor at News Corp, and played in the NBL for 13 seasons – over half of which came with the Sydney Kings.

Olgun Uluc is an award-winning journalist and ESPN basketball expert.

Game 1 of the NBL23 Championship Series begins tonight – Friday March 3 – at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach and 10 play.