Mitch Creek has been released from the remainder of his South East Melbourne Phoenix contract in order to pursue overseas opportunities, the team said on Thursday.

Creek — a member of the 2023 All-NBL First Team and widely regarded as one of the league’s best players over the past several years — had one year remaining on his deal with the Phoenix, but had a desire to pursue his options outside of Australia.

The 6’5 forward is expected to strongly assess his interest in Asia, sources told ESPN.

Following his 2023-24 season with the Phoenix, Creek spent time with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association, before joining Atleticos de San German in Puerto Rico. He finally ended up with the Vancouver Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

Creek joined the Phoenix for their inaugural season in 2019, becoming the first marquee player in the franchise’s young history. He leaves the Phoenix as its franchise leader in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

“There is something truly special about the Phoenix fans,” Creek said.

“I’ve felt their love and passion from the very first day. It’s been a joy to see that grow over the years and I will forever be grateful and humbled by their support. This is a great club, and I’m honoured to have been a part of its story.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I feel the time has come in my career to turn my focus towards potential opportunities and experiences abroad. I also want to provide the Phoenix that clarity now, so they too can look forward, optimise their roster build, and focus on their ambitions for NBL25 and beyond.”

The 32-year-old is coming off one of the best NBL seasons of his career, averaging 20.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game over the 2023-24 campaign, subsequently being named to the All-NBL Second Team.

“While we’d love to have Mitch on our roster moving forward, we understand that he has interests outside of Australia he’d like to pursue and we want to see him thrive in whatever his next steps are,” the Phoenix’s General Manager of Basketball Operations, Simon Mitchell, said.

“Mitch went from strength-to-strength in his time with the Phoenix, we’ve seen him grow as a player and a person and we’re proud to call him a Phoenix person.”

The Phoenix’s decision-makers are currently at the 2024 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, and have turned their attention to recruiting an import forward to replace Creek.

Over in Adelaide, the 36ers have signed their first import for the 2024-25 NBL season, bringing in Kendric Davis on a one-year deal, sources said. Davis is a 6’0 point guard who last played for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA G-League, averaging 18.7 points and 8.3 assists per game.

The 36ers have now turned their attention to forwards on the import market. The team is currently in conversations with both Zylan Cheatham and Jarrell Martin, sources said. Cheatham, an athletic 6’8 forward, is coming off a season with the New Zealand Breakers; Martin, a rangy 6’10 forward, was a member of the 2022 championship-winning Sydney Kings side.

The Illawarra Hawks are another team that has expressed interest in Cheatham, sources said. The Hawks haven’t completely abandoned their desire to re-sign forward Gary Clark, sources said, but those talks remain relatively far apart.

On Wednesday, the Brisbane Bullets completed their roster for the 2024-25 season by signing James Batemon; the 6’1 American point guard replaced Shannon Scott, who the Bullets released earlier that day.