Basketball On The Internet.

WHEN the talk turns to "mature-age recruits", few will top the Adelaide 36ers recent signing of star American NBL1 Central forward Alex Starling, who as a recently naturalised Aussie, will make his long overdue NBL debut as a 34-year-old warrior in Season 2023-24.

Starling has been rocking the SA scene for nearly a decade, winning three championships and two Woollacott Medals as the state's fairest and most brilliant men's player, after originally being lured to Australia by then Sydney Swans AFL coach Paul Roos.

When injury soured his hopes of playing Aussie Rules football, Hall of Famer Al Green secured him to play at Woodville in SA, where Green was coach.

Starling currently is playing locally for recently-appointed Adelaide 36ers assistant coach Scott Ninnis at South Adelaide where the pair won the championship last year.

As soon as the athletic 198cm forward decided to take out citizenship, the 36ers' collective ears pricked up and when that formality was formalised yesterday, so too was his NBL contract.

As we told you he would here on April 17, Starling now becomes the fourth confirmed "new" face at the 36ers, joining Isaac Humphries, Jason Cadee and Keanu Rasmussen.

Mitch McCarron, Antonius Cleveland, Robert Franks, Nick Marshall, Sunday Dech and Kyrin Galloway are all slated to return for CJ Bruton's third campaign at the helm, although Franks is very unlikely.

His spot already has been earmarked for American "big" Jacob Wiley, a star with NBL history at the Sixers.

Wiley played for Adelaide in the 2018-19 season before exercising a European "out" clause. He subsequently has played for Gran Canaria in Spain, Panathinaikos in Greece, Basket Zaragoza in Spain, for Montenegro's Buducnost and Real Betis in Spain.

More recently he has played in Japan for Shiga Lakestars and in Puerto Rico with Vaqueros de Bayamon where he averaged a team-leading 14.8ppg, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.8 blocks.

In other recruiting news, as predicted here on April 16, Matthew Dellavodova is back with Melbourne after his second NBA stint, and Brad Newley also is back at United, as we told you he would be on April 18.

Adelaide-born Newley has been a perennial star of Australian basketball since bursting onto the NBL scene with Townsville Crocodiles before an illustrious career in Europe, a long run as a Boomers stalwart and subsequent playing stints at Sydney Kings and Melbourne United.

Winning the 2023-24 NBL championship would be a fitting swansong to his memorable career.