The teams who could spend big in NBL25

ESPN Insider Olgun Uluc says the Brisbane Bullets and Adelaide 36ers are set to have a “war chest” of spending money to recruit big name players heading into NBL25.

Both clubs have struggled on-court this season, but Uluc believes help could be on the way, in the way of salary cap relief and spending capacity.

“I’m liking the idea of Adelaide and Brisbane having this war chest ... this chest of money that they’re going to get from some of their current veteran guys coming off contracts,” Uluc said on The Marketplace.

With conversations no doubt already taking place around a shuffle of rosters in the off-season, the Bullets will be one team to keep an eye on, particularly the prized signature of big man Aron Baynes.

Baynes is a still a commanding presence in the paint, but at 37 and averaging only 13 minutes a game in NBL24, it will be fascinating to see whether he goes around with Brisbane for another season.

 “I look at Brisbane … Aron Baynes, he’s the highest paid player in the league this season - he comes off the books,” Uluc said.

“A lot of their ancillary guys, their numbers go up slightly, and so that cuts into the money that they would have to spend, so Aron Baynes' money. But there is still a significant amount of money right there to spend.

“They’re a team that while they have locked in a lot of their role players on multi-year deals - they could be pretty active on the free agency market.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In a special edition of The Marketplace, <a href="https://twitter.com/JackHeverin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackHeverin</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterHooley12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeterHooley12</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/OlgunUluc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OlgunUluc</a> preview the Free Agency period that will be here before we know it ?<br><br>Watch now ??<a href="https://t.co/2AJc8EM3Fx">https://t.co/2AJc8EM3Fx</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1740182971032994058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Over in Adelaide, Mitch McCarron is out of contract at the end of the season.

“I look at Adelaide, I see Mitch McCarron – that’s a big deal right there. That contract goes off the books and all of a sudden, they have so much money that they can spend,” Uluc said.

NBL commentator and former Melbourne United champion Peter Hooley expects McCarron to depart the 36ers.

“Mitch McCarron, I don’t envision him being back in Adelaide under any circumstance, but I do think there are a couple teams that could really use the services like him,” Hooley said.

“They’ll be looking around to try and get those high-profile players ... Dejan Vasiljevic, we know they’re talking about him on potentially a multi-year deal.”

The Free Agency merry-go-round will only continue to heat up in the coming weeks and months. But who ends up where?