NBLThe season, counted

Sam Mennenga#3 · NZ BreakersNZL

Nick Marshall#11 · Tasmania JackJumpersTAS

Nathan Sobey#20 · South East Melbourne PhoenixSEM

Sam Mennenga scored 5.8 more points a game than last NBL season

Sam Mennenga scored 5.8 more points a game in 2025-26 than 2024-25, the biggest rise among 42 NBL players with real minutes in both seasons.

By Adam20 Sept 20263 min readNumbers to the end of the 2025-26 season

Figure 1

Every qualifying player's season, last year against this one

points a game · 42 NBL players with 10+ games and 15+ minutes a game in both 2024-25 and 2025-26

Sam Mennenga, +5.8 a gameNick Marshall, +5.8 a gameNathan Sobey, +5.2 a gameevery other qualifying player

Note: The full 42 are in the numbers below. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 16 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Player	2024-25 club	2024-25 games	2024-25 pts/g	2025-26 club	2025-26 games	2025-26 pts/g	Change
Sam Mennenga	NZL	29	11.9	NZL	27	17.7	+5.8
Nick Marshall	ADL	22	4.6	TAS	34	10.4	+5.8
Nathan Sobey	SEM	34	17.3	SEM	36	22.5	+5.2
Elijah Pepper	PER	31	7.1	PER	37	10.5	+3.4
Casey Prather	BRI	27	21.3	BRI	12	24.4	+3.1
Mojave King	NZL	17	8.5	CNS	22	11.3	+2.8
Owen Foxwell	SEM	33	8.1	SEM	32	10.8	+2.8
William Hickey	ILL	37	10.1	ILL	27	12.7	+2.6
Karim Lopez	NZL	25	9.6	NZL	30	11.9	+2.3
Josh Bannan	BRI	19	13.2	TAS	34	15.5	+2.3
Kristian Doolittle	PER	28	15.4	PER	37	17.3	+1.9
Jordan Hunter	SEM	34	9.9	SEM	37	11.6	+1.7
Milton Doyle	TAS	29	14.6	MEL	35	16.2	+1.6
Reuben Te Rangi	TAS	29	5.1	NZL	33	6.5	+1.4
Dylan Windler	PER	28	12.2	PER	32	13.2	+1.0
Isaac Humphries	ADL	30	11.8	ADL	41	12.6	+0.8
Bul Kuol	SYD	25	6	SYD	20	6.7	+0.7
Tyrell Harrison	BRI	20	14.3	BRI	25	15	+0.7
Fabijan Krslovic	TAS	28	4.1	MEL	35	4.6	+0.5
Angus Glover	SEM	34	10.1	SEM	35	10.4	+0.4
Kyrin Galloway	CNS	28	7.3	CNS	33	7.6	+0.4
Mitch Norton	BRI	29	7.4	BRI	23	7.5	+0.1
Malique Lewis	SEM	34	6.8	SEM	29	6.9	+0.1
Wani Swaka Lo Buluk	ILL	37	8.1	ILL	33	8	−0.1
Marcus Lee	MEL	34	6.9	CNS	33	6.8	−0.1
Tyler Harvey	ILL	37	17.1	ILL	31	16.9	−0.2
Izayah Le'Afa	SYD	30	3.7	NZL	15	3.5	−0.2
Tai Webster	PER	20	7.7	NZL	16	7.3	−0.4
Kendric Davis	ADL	29	25.6	SYD	40	25.1	−0.5
Ian Clark	MEL	36	14.4	SEM	18	13.9	−0.5
Ben Henshall	PER	32	9.4	PER	34	8.9	−0.6
Majok Deng	TAS	26	11.5	TAS	29	10.8	−0.8
Parker Jackson-Cartwright	NZL	21	18.9	NZL	33	17.7	−1.2
Xavier Cooks	SYD	28	15.4	SYD	36	13.6	−1.8
Bryce Cotton	PER	28	28.1	ADL	40	25.9	−2.1
Sam Froling	ILL	36	13.9	ILL	15	11.2	−2.7
Matthew Dellavedova	MEL	35	11.2	SYD	34	8.4	−2.8
Will Magnay	TAS	13	13.8	TAS	24	10.4	−3.4
Kouat Noi	SYD	28	14.6	SYD	39	10	−4.6
Jaylen Adams	SYD	27	18.4	BRI	13	12.8	−5.6
Chris Goulding	MEL	33	19.1	MEL	30	12.8	−6.3
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	26	17.8	ADL	41	10.9	−6.9

Why?

“Most improved” usually just means whoever scored more this year, and that can just mean whoever played more minutes. I wanted to separate the two questions: who scored more, and who was actually better doing it.

2024-25 ran from September 2024 to March 2025; 2025-26 ran from September 2025 to April 2026, finishing five months before these numbers were read. Both are complete. A player qualifies in each one with 10 or more games and 15 or more minutes a game on average, which is why the list is 42 rather than the whole league — a player who barely featured in either season would make any change here meaningless.

Three clear of the rest

Of the 42, 23 scored more in 2025-26 and 19 scored less. The average change was a gain of 0.16 points a game; the middle player moved 0.23. Most of the league, in other words, is a flat line between the two seasons, which is what makes the players at either end worth naming.

Sam Mennenga went from 11.9 points a game for the NZ Breakers to . Nick Marshall went from 4.6 for the Adelaide 36ers to for the Tasmania JackJumpers, who signed Marshall between the two seasons. Nathan Sobey went from 17.3 for the South East Melbourne Phoenix to 22.5. The next-best rise in the whole league, Elijah Pepper's, was 3.4 — a clear gap between these three and everyone else.

Sobey's rise looks different to the other two. Sobey was already playing 28.4 minutes a game and scoring well; the extra points came from doing more with a role already held. Mennenga and Marshall both saw their roles grow at the same time their scoring did, which is a different kind of season.

All three also played more minutes. Marshall in particular went from a bench role, 22 games, to something closer to a starting one, 34 games, so part of a bigger scoring line is simply more opportunity to score.

Pricing the extra minutes out changes the order a little but not the conclusion. From 2024-25 to 2025-26:

Player	Minutes a game	Points per 36 minutes
Sam Mennenga	22.3 → 27.7	19.2 → 23.1
Nick Marshall	16.3 → 26.7	10.2 → 14.0
Nathan Sobey	28.4 → 30.6	21.8 → 26.5

All three are still up by roughly four points a game once the court time is made equal, which is the part a raw scoring average cannot show on its own.

Every NBL player's game logPoints, minutes and every other stat the feed records, game by game.Open the NBL players

The way down

A list with 23 risers has 19 fallers. The three biggest drops, in points a game:

Player	Club	2024-25	2025-26
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	17.8	10.9
Chris Goulding	MEL	19.1	12.8
Jaylen Adams	SYD to BRI	18.4	12.8

Jaylen Adams dropped in 14 fewer games, after a move from the Sydney Kings to the Brisbane Bullets. A season is short enough that both ends of this list can turn up again next year in the other column.

Figure 2

The biggest movers, up and down

change in points a game, 2024-25 to 2025-26 · the five biggest rises and the five biggest falls

Sam Mennenga NZL+5.8

Nick Marshall ADL to TAS+5.8

Nathan Sobey SEM+5.2

Elijah Pepper PER+3.4

Casey Prather BRI+3.1

Will Magnay TAS−3.4

Kouat Noi SYD−4.6

Jaylen Adams SYD to BRI−5.6

Chris Goulding MEL−6.3

Dejan Vasiljevic ADL−6.9

scored more in 2025-26scored less in 2025-26

Note: The same two seasons as the figure above, sorted by the change itself rather than by either season's total. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 16 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Player	Club (24-25 to 25-26)	2024-25 pts/g	2025-26 pts/g	Change
Sam Mennenga	NZL	11.9	17.7	+5.8
Nick Marshall	ADL to TAS	4.6	10.4	+5.8
Nathan Sobey	SEM	17.3	22.5	+5.2
Elijah Pepper	PER	7.1	10.5	+3.4
Casey Prather	BRI	21.3	24.4	+3.1
Will Magnay	TAS	13.8	10.4	−3.4
Kouat Noi	SYD	14.6	10	−4.6
Jaylen Adams	SYD to BRI	18.4	12.8	−5.6
Chris Goulding	MEL	19.1	12.8	−6.3
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	17.8	10.9	−6.9

Did they actually get better?

Points a game is one line on a box score, not a verdict on whether a player got better at basketball. It says nothing about shooting efficiency, defence or the minutes a coach chose not to give someone, and two seasons is a small enough sample that some of this movement is just the shape a season takes. If the NBL ever separates true bench time from garbage-time minutes I would go back and see whether Marshall's rise still holds. The 2025-26 NBL season, round by round is where the same year shows up as a ladder rather than a box score.

Summary

Sam Mennenga: 11.92024-2517.7points a game, 2025-26
Per 36 minutes: about +4all three named risers, court time made equal
All 42 players: 23scored more19scored less+0.23the middle player

The working

Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read

Window: Two complete NBL seasons: 2024-25 (19 Sep 2024 to 23 Mar 2025) and 2025-26 (18 Sep 2025 to 5 Apr 2026), including finals in both.
Who qualifies: A player needs 10 or more games with a recorded points stat and an average of 15 or more minutes a game, in BOTH seasons, to appear here. 42 players clear that bar.
Points a game: The feed's own points stat, averaged per game. Nothing here is estimated.
Change, and per-36: The season-to-season change is derived by subtraction and rounded to one decimal place for display; the ranking uses the unrounded figure. Points per 36 minutes is derived by dividing total points by total minutes and scaling to 36, shown only for the three named risers as a check against a change driven purely by more court time.
Club: The club of a player's most recent game in that season.
Where the numbers come from: Punt's own database, built from the NBL's own published box scores — nbl.com.au carries the record for every game here.
Read: 16 September 2026, from Punt's database.
Not in this article: Who improves next season, whether a rise is worth anything, or shooting percentage, defence or any stat besides points and minutes.
Sources and terms: Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.

Sam Mennenga's pointsEvery game, in PuntOpen

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The season, counted2 min readDash Daniels reached 10 points once in 33 games last season. Now it's 7 in 9.Dash Daniels scored 4.2 points a game for Melbourne United in 2025-26 and 13.2 for the Phoenix in NBL27, the 3rd-biggest rise of 63 NBL players.The season, counted2 min readSam Mennenga's points doubled without PJC. The wins didn't.Without Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Sam Mennenga went from 16.6 points a game to 34.3. The Breakers won 1 of those 3 games.The season, counted3 min readHome advantage is just the fansHome teams win 54.2% to 58.0% of games in every sport. In the NBL the refs and shooting barely move. Then fans were locked out, and it flipped.

NBLThe season, counted

Sam Mennenga#3 · NZ BreakersNZL

Nick Marshall#11 · Tasmania JackJumpersTAS

Nathan Sobey#20 · South East Melbourne PhoenixSEM

Sam Mennenga scored 5.8 more points a game than last NBL season

Sam Mennenga scored 5.8 more points a game in 2025-26 than 2024-25, the biggest rise among 42 NBL players with real minutes in both seasons.

By Adam20 Sept 20263 min readNumbers to the end of the 2025-26 season

Figure 1

Every qualifying player's season, last year against this one

points a game · 42 NBL players with 10+ games and 15+ minutes a game in both 2024-25 and 2025-26

Sam Mennenga, +5.8 a gameNick Marshall, +5.8 a gameNathan Sobey, +5.2 a gameevery other qualifying player

Note: The full 42 are in the numbers below. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 16 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Player	2024-25 club	2024-25 games	2024-25 pts/g	2025-26 club	2025-26 games	2025-26 pts/g	Change
Sam Mennenga	NZL	29	11.9	NZL	27	17.7	+5.8
Nick Marshall	ADL	22	4.6	TAS	34	10.4	+5.8
Nathan Sobey	SEM	34	17.3	SEM	36	22.5	+5.2
Elijah Pepper	PER	31	7.1	PER	37	10.5	+3.4
Casey Prather	BRI	27	21.3	BRI	12	24.4	+3.1
Mojave King	NZL	17	8.5	CNS	22	11.3	+2.8
Owen Foxwell	SEM	33	8.1	SEM	32	10.8	+2.8
William Hickey	ILL	37	10.1	ILL	27	12.7	+2.6
Karim Lopez	NZL	25	9.6	NZL	30	11.9	+2.3
Josh Bannan	BRI	19	13.2	TAS	34	15.5	+2.3
Kristian Doolittle	PER	28	15.4	PER	37	17.3	+1.9
Jordan Hunter	SEM	34	9.9	SEM	37	11.6	+1.7
Milton Doyle	TAS	29	14.6	MEL	35	16.2	+1.6
Reuben Te Rangi	TAS	29	5.1	NZL	33	6.5	+1.4
Dylan Windler	PER	28	12.2	PER	32	13.2	+1.0
Isaac Humphries	ADL	30	11.8	ADL	41	12.6	+0.8
Bul Kuol	SYD	25	6	SYD	20	6.7	+0.7
Tyrell Harrison	BRI	20	14.3	BRI	25	15	+0.7
Fabijan Krslovic	TAS	28	4.1	MEL	35	4.6	+0.5
Angus Glover	SEM	34	10.1	SEM	35	10.4	+0.4
Kyrin Galloway	CNS	28	7.3	CNS	33	7.6	+0.4
Mitch Norton	BRI	29	7.4	BRI	23	7.5	+0.1
Malique Lewis	SEM	34	6.8	SEM	29	6.9	+0.1
Wani Swaka Lo Buluk	ILL	37	8.1	ILL	33	8	−0.1
Marcus Lee	MEL	34	6.9	CNS	33	6.8	−0.1
Tyler Harvey	ILL	37	17.1	ILL	31	16.9	−0.2
Izayah Le'Afa	SYD	30	3.7	NZL	15	3.5	−0.2
Tai Webster	PER	20	7.7	NZL	16	7.3	−0.4
Kendric Davis	ADL	29	25.6	SYD	40	25.1	−0.5
Ian Clark	MEL	36	14.4	SEM	18	13.9	−0.5
Ben Henshall	PER	32	9.4	PER	34	8.9	−0.6
Majok Deng	TAS	26	11.5	TAS	29	10.8	−0.8
Parker Jackson-Cartwright	NZL	21	18.9	NZL	33	17.7	−1.2
Xavier Cooks	SYD	28	15.4	SYD	36	13.6	−1.8
Bryce Cotton	PER	28	28.1	ADL	40	25.9	−2.1
Sam Froling	ILL	36	13.9	ILL	15	11.2	−2.7
Matthew Dellavedova	MEL	35	11.2	SYD	34	8.4	−2.8
Will Magnay	TAS	13	13.8	TAS	24	10.4	−3.4
Kouat Noi	SYD	28	14.6	SYD	39	10	−4.6
Jaylen Adams	SYD	27	18.4	BRI	13	12.8	−5.6
Chris Goulding	MEL	33	19.1	MEL	30	12.8	−6.3
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	26	17.8	ADL	41	10.9	−6.9

Why?

Three clear of the rest

Pricing the extra minutes out changes the order a little but not the conclusion. From 2024-25 to 2025-26:

Player	Minutes a game	Points per 36 minutes
Sam Mennenga	22.3 → 27.7	19.2 → 23.1
Nick Marshall	16.3 → 26.7	10.2 → 14.0
Nathan Sobey	28.4 → 30.6	21.8 → 26.5

All three are still up by roughly four points a game once the court time is made equal, which is the part a raw scoring average cannot show on its own.

Every NBL player's game logPoints, minutes and every other stat the feed records, game by game.Open the NBL players

The way down

A list with 23 risers has 19 fallers. The three biggest drops, in points a game:

Player	Club	2024-25	2025-26
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	17.8	10.9
Chris Goulding	MEL	19.1	12.8
Jaylen Adams	SYD to BRI	18.4	12.8

Figure 2

The biggest movers, up and down

change in points a game, 2024-25 to 2025-26 · the five biggest rises and the five biggest falls

Sam Mennenga NZL+5.8

Nick Marshall ADL to TAS+5.8

Nathan Sobey SEM+5.2

Elijah Pepper PER+3.4

Casey Prather BRI+3.1

Will Magnay TAS−3.4

Kouat Noi SYD−4.6

Jaylen Adams SYD to BRI−5.6

Chris Goulding MEL−6.3

Dejan Vasiljevic ADL−6.9

scored more in 2025-26scored less in 2025-26

Note: The same two seasons as the figure above, sorted by the change itself rather than by either season's total. Completed games only.Source: Punt's database, read 16 September 2026.

Show the numbers

Player	Club (24-25 to 25-26)	2024-25 pts/g	2025-26 pts/g	Change
Sam Mennenga	NZL	11.9	17.7	+5.8
Nick Marshall	ADL to TAS	4.6	10.4	+5.8
Nathan Sobey	SEM	17.3	22.5	+5.2
Elijah Pepper	PER	7.1	10.5	+3.4
Casey Prather	BRI	21.3	24.4	+3.1
Will Magnay	TAS	13.8	10.4	−3.4
Kouat Noi	SYD	14.6	10	−4.6
Jaylen Adams	SYD to BRI	18.4	12.8	−5.6
Chris Goulding	MEL	19.1	12.8	−6.3
Dejan Vasiljevic	ADL	17.8	10.9	−6.9

Did they actually get better?

Summary

Sam Mennenga: 11.92024-2517.7points a game, 2025-26
Per 36 minutes: about +4all three named risers, court time made equal
All 42 players: 23scored more19scored less+0.23the middle player

The working

Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read

Window: Two complete NBL seasons: 2024-25 (19 Sep 2024 to 23 Mar 2025) and 2025-26 (18 Sep 2025 to 5 Apr 2026), including finals in both.
Who qualifies: A player needs 10 or more games with a recorded points stat and an average of 15 or more minutes a game, in BOTH seasons, to appear here. 42 players clear that bar.
Points a game: The feed's own points stat, averaged per game. Nothing here is estimated.
Change, and per-36: The season-to-season change is derived by subtraction and rounded to one decimal place for display; the ranking uses the unrounded figure. Points per 36 minutes is derived by dividing total points by total minutes and scaling to 36, shown only for the three named risers as a check against a change driven purely by more court time.
Club: The club of a player's most recent game in that season.
Where the numbers come from: Punt's own database, built from the NBL's own published box scores — nbl.com.au carries the record for every game here.
Read: 16 September 2026, from Punt's database.
Not in this article: Who improves next season, whether a rise is worth anything, or shooting percentage, defence or any stat besides points and minutes.
Sources and terms: Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.

Sam Mennenga's pointsEvery game, in PuntOpen

Keep reading

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