36ers stay no-brainer for 'Mr Adelaide'

Adelaide 36ers have continued to lock away its core heading into the NBL25 season and beyond, re-signing Isaac Humphries to a three-year deal last week.

The star centre has been honest about assessing other options around the league but says the city of churches is the best place for him.

Humphries has followed Scott Ninnis and star guard DJ Vasiljevic in re-signing with the club, and the recently appointed head coach had previously expressed a strong desire to limit season-to-season change on his roster as much as possible.

The new contract will see Humphries remain with one team longer than he ever has in his career so far, and he says he wants to continue to develop his relationship with Adelaide as a city and a club.

“I think the way we finished things off last year gave me a really positive boost to really get this done, and I didn’t really want to go anywhere except Adelaide because it’s such a great city and I’ve very quickly over the three combined years I’ve played and lived here fallen in love with the city, in love with the people,” Humphries said.

“I’m the self-proclaimed ‘Mr Adelaide’ and I want to stay that way and develop my relationship with this incredible city and state.

“I’m very excited for this next chapter of my life, I’ve never lived anywhere for three years before so I’m very excited for that, and who knows what the future holds, but I’m sure it will be great.

“There wasn’t one sole thing that made my decision. With a decision like this it can’t be just one thing, there are so many things that play out in your decision-making.

“Three seasons in basketball is a really long time and I was at a point in my career after last season where my next move was important to me, I had the best season of my career so far and what I did next was going to really set me up for a pretty important stint in my career.”

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Several offers were put to Humphries and the 211cm centre considered all his options, but Adelaide is the best place for him.

“I considered all my offers very heavily, it was a very difficult decision, and Sydney was definitely on the cards – I don’t think there’s any secret there,” he said.

“I’m from Sydney, I have a very strong family connection in Sydney, however I’m not a 10-year-old boy anymore and I felt like my life was in a different place and in a different direction, and basketball-wise I really loved what we’re trying to create down here.

“I think it made more sense to me right now to be here. It was a very hard decision to weigh up any offers, any interest is great to have but ultimately all my pros landed down here, and it made more sense to be here.”

Head coach Scott Ninnis has been bullish on his belief Humphries is one of the NBL’s top talents, Humphries says the honesty in which he’s spoken with Ninnis across the campaign was a crucial aspect to his re-signing.

“He bought tickets to my [Adelaide] Fringe show, so that was number one. After that it was over,” Humphries said with a smile.

“No, Scotty’s been very open with me over the last few months with his intentions moving forward with me and I’ve been very grateful for that honesty and open conversation. Sometimes in these team environments that honesty and conversation can get lost, so I was appreciative of everyone being so open with me.

“I asked for some time and they gave me time, and then it was time to make a decision, I think the constant communication, reassurance and chatting things through helped me a lot.

“I’m an athlete, I’m only human, I have questions and concerns – not everything is sunshine and rainbows – so I had to address some of those as well but I think we landed in a really great spot.”