Cadee 400: A journey like no other

Out of the 52 NBL players who have notched up 400 games before him, Jason Cadee’s journey towards this milestone is unique, as it was a career that almost ended before it even began.

It was July 2010 and Cadee was driving home from a practice, like he has done thousands of times in his career, when a semi-trailer collided with his car on one of the busiest highways in Sydney.

The crash left his car destroyed and Cadee with a broken pelvis, which required a 14cm screw and a plate with six pins to help repair and hold his pelvis together. 

As life has progressed, Cadee has come to realise just how lucky he was to avoid death in that moment. 

“I was a bit naïve to it when it happened,” Cadee said on The Huddle. 

“I treated it like it was just an everyday thing, even though I basically should have died.

“The fact I sit here now ... considering there was a time where I basically had to learn how to walk and run again.”

Perhaps it was always meant to be this way for Cadee, after growing up surrounded by basketball, thanks to his parents.

“For me, knowing what they did with their basketball careers and lives, and what they’ve achieved ... they’re Hall of Famers in New South Wales,” he said.

“To kind of follow in their footsteps in a way, but then walk my own path, I feel like they’d sit there and feel pretty chuffed that I’ve been able to do that.”

It was a career that began in the Gold Coast, when Joey Wright saw something special in in Cadee over a private workout at Christmas.

“I heard all these great things about Joey, and I loved the personnel they had. I knew I could learn from them, and I loved it,” Cadee said.

That Blaze team was filled with NBL stars, along with influential people who have helped shape Cadee’s career from a then teenage rookie to one of the most consistent guards the league has seen.

“James Harvey, Mark Worthington, Gibbo (Adam Gibson), (Chris) Goulding, all those guys I learned so much from in those years that I am now able to hand down to other people now,” he said.

Cadee during his first NBL stint at the Gold Coast Blaze.

From the Gold Coast to the Adelaide 36ers, then to the Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets and back to Adelaide, Cadee’s career has come full circle.

These days things look a little different for Cadee, as the kid who once grew up being surrounded by the West Sydney Razorbacks, is a father himself who now gets to share a similar childhood experience.

“I always wanted to have kids while I was still playing so that hopefully they could just remember being around the team, like I did,” he said.

“It’s almost more about them enjoying these games than it is me.”

Cadee played two seasons at the Adelaide 36ers from 2012-2014, before returning last season.

With all the lessons he has learnt throughout 399 games, Cadee understands there’s still so much he has to offer both his team and his children.

“One thing that has always come natural to me is basketball… and talking about it and understanding it,” he said.

Laughing, Cadee added, “now it’s whether my kids, Louis, Scarlett or Jude want to listen to me talk about it or not”. 

From a floor wiper at the Razorbacks, to an NBL Best Sixth Man in 2020, the journey to 400 games has been special for Cadee.

They say some people are born to be who they are today, and perhaps he’s a perfect example of that. For Cadee, it can be traced back to a simple letter that found from his younger self.

“I was cleaning the house up recently…it was like a year two diary from school,” Cadee said.

“I was going through it laughing at all the silly stuff, and then one page just said, when I’m older, I’m going to be an NBL player.”

And what an incredible NBL player he has been.

Cadee and DJ Vasiljevic.