2024–25 Perth Wildcats season

2024–25 Perth Wildcats season
2024–25 Perth Wildcats season
Head coach	John Rillie
Captain	Jesse Wagstaff
Arena	Perth Arena
NBL results
Record	5–6 (45.5%)
Ladder	6th
Finals finish	TBD
	Stats at NBL.com.au
	All statistics correct as of 9 November 2024.
	← 2023–24 2025–26 →

The 2024–25 Perth Wildcats season is the 44th season of the franchise in the National Basketball League (NBL), and their third under the leadership of head coach John Rillie.

On 17 September 2024, Rillie signed a three-year contract extension with the Wildcats to remain as head coach until the end of the 2027–28 season.^[1]

Roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Perth Wildcats roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.
G	0	Webster, Tai	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	89 kg (196 lb)
G	1	Russo-Nance, Dontae (DP)	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
G/F	3	Windler, Dylan (I)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	89 kg (196 lb)
F	5	Doolittle, Kristian (I)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	105 kg (231 lb)
F/C	8	Almansa, Izan (NS)	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	104 kg (229 lb)
G/F	10	Henshall, Ben	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
G	11	Cotton, Bryce (I)	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)	76 kg (168 lb)
F	13	Harris, Hyrum	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	110 kg (243 lb)
G	17	Harris, Michael	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	85 kg (187 lb)
F	22	Gerovich, Thomas (DP)	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)
F	24	Wagstaff, Jesse (C)	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	103 kg (227 lb)
F/C	25	Pinder, Keanu	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)	103 kg (227 lb)
F	33	Withers, Todd (NRP)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	98 kg (216 lb)
F	35	Okwera, David	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
G	40	Pepper, Elijah	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	91 kg (201 lb)

Head coach

John Rillie

Assistant coach(es)

Keegan Crawford
Gerard Martin
Aaron Young

Strength & conditioning coach(es)

Josh Cavanagh

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Development player
(I) Import player
(SRP) Special restricted player
(NS) Next Star player
Injured

Roster

Updated: 24 October 2024

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Inactive
PG	Tai Webster	Ben Henshall	Dontae Russo-Nance
SG	Bryce Cotton	Elijah Pepper	Michael Harris
SF	Dylan Windler	Hyrum Harris	Thomas Gerovich
PF	Kristian Doolittle	Izan Almansa	Jesse Wagstaff	Todd Withers
C	Keanu Pinder	David Okwera

Standings

Ladder

Pos	2024–25 NBL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	PF	PA	PP
1	Melbourne United	13	9	4	69.23%	4–1	W2	5–3	4–1	1221	1131	107.96%
2	New Zealand Breakers	9	6	3	66.67%	3–2	L1	4–1	2–2	775	756	102.51%

3	Illawarra Hawks	10	6	4	60.00%	2–3	L2	2–2	4–2	966	898	107.57%
4	Adelaide 36ers	10	6	4	60.00%	3–2	W1	5–1	1–3	905	925	97.84%
5	Sydney Kings	12	7	5	58.33%	2–3	W2	3–2	4–3	1046	988	105.87%
6	Perth Wildcats	11	5	6	45.45%	3–2	L1	4–2	1–4	976	1020	95.69%

7	S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	12	5	7	41.67%	3–2	W1	2–3	3–4	1037	998	103.91%
8	Brisbane Bullets	8	3	5	37.50%	3–2	L1	1–3	2–2	715	748	95.59%
9	Tasmania JackJumpers	12	4	8	33.33%	2–3	W1	3–2	1–6	931	993	93.76%
10	Cairns Taipans	11	3	8	27.27%	0–5	L7	2–4	1–4	920	1035	88.89%

Updated to match(es) played on 10 November 2024. Source: NBL.com.au

The NBL tie-breaker system as outlined in the NBL Rules and Regulations states that in the case of an identical win–loss record, the overall points percentage will determine order of seeding.

Ladder progression

	Leader and qualification to semifinals
	Qualification to semifinals
	Qualification to play-in
	Last place

2024–25 NBL season
Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Team ╲ Round
Adelaide 36ers	8	8	6	5	5	4	4	4
Brisbane Bullets	6	10	9	9	7	8	7	8
Cairns Taipans	10	7	4	6	6	9	10	10
Illawarra Hawks	1	1	2	2	1	1	2	3
Melbourne United	2	3	5	3	4	2	3	1
New Zealand Breakers	5	2	1	1	2	3	1	2
Perth Wildcats	4	5	8	7	8	6	6	6
S.E. Melbourne Phoenix	7	9	10	10	10	10	8	7
Sydney Kings	3	4	3	4	3	5	5	5
Tasmania JackJumpers	9	6	7	8	9	7	9	9

Updated to match(es) played on 10 November 2024. Source: NBL.com.au

Game log

Pre-season

2024 NBL Blitz game log
Total: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0)

September: 3–0 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	8 September	New Zealand	W 108–102	Bryce Cotton (32)	Keanu Pinder (8)	Hyrum Harris (5)	Carrara Indoor Stadium n/a	1–0
2	19 September	@ Illawarra	W 93–98	Ben Henshall (18)	Ben Henshall (10)	three players (4)	Gold Coast Sports Centre n/a	2–0
3	21 September	@ Cairns	W 76–89	Tai Webster (16)	Izan Almansa (8)	Tai Webster (5)	Gold Coast Sports Centre n/a	3–0

Regular season

2024–25 game log
Total: 5–6 (Home: 4–2; Road: 1–4)

September: 1–1 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	20 September	S.E. Melbourne	W 106–98	Keanu Pinder (29)	Kristian Doolittle (13)	Ben Henshall (7)	Perth Arena 11,530	1–0
2	27 September	Sydney	L 88–89	Kristian Doolittle (21)	Dylan Windler (16)	Doolittle, Pepper (3)	Perth Arena 11,800	1–1

October: 2–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 1–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
3	4 October	Melbourne	L 68–97	Doolittle, Henshall (12)	Keanu Pinder (10)	Bryce Cotton (5)	Perth Arena 12,287	1–2
4	6 October	@ Tasmania	L 84–79 (OT)	Bryce Cotton (24)	Keanu Pinder (14)	Bryce Cotton (4)	Derwent Entertainment Centre 4,340	1–3
5	10 October	@ Cairns	W 87–90	Bryce Cotton (35)	Kristian Doolittle (11)	Kristian Doolittle (4)	Cairns Convention Centre 3,750	2–3
6	19 October	@ New Zealand	L 89–85	Tai Webster (20)	Kristian Doolittle (11)	Tai Webster (6)	Spark Arena 5,822	2–4
7	25 October	Sydney	W 87–84	Keanu Pinder (34)	Kristian Doolittle (14)	Ben Henshall (8)	Perth Arena 11,114	3–4

November: 2–2 (Home: 2–0; Road: 0–2)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
8	1 November	Illawarra	W 113–105	Ben Henshall (26)	Keanu Pinder (6)	Kristian Doolittle (7)	Perth Arena 10,421	4–4
9	3 November	@ S.E. Melbourne	L 100–76	Elijah Pepper (17)	Kristian Doolittle (8)	Ben Henshall (5)	John Cain Arena 8,362	4–5
10	7 November	Tasmania	W 88–82	Kristian Doolittle (18)	Kristian Doolittle (12)	Tai Webster (6)	Perth Arena 10,793	5–5
11	9 November	@ Melbourne	L 106–97	Kristian Doolittle (21)	Keanu Pinder (10)	Doolittle, Webster (5)	John Cain Arena 7,885	5–6
12	15 November	S.E. Melbourne	0–0				Perth Arena	–
13	17 November	@ Brisbane	0–0				Brisbane Entertainment Centre	–
14	29 November	Brisbane	0–0				Perth Wildcats	–

December: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
15	1 December	New Zealand	0–0	Perth Arena	–
16	6 December	Illawarra	0–0	Perth Arena	–
17	8 December	@ Adelaide	0–0	Adelaide Entertainment Centre	–
19	14 December	@ Cairns	0–0	Cairns Convention Centre	–
19	22 December	@ Illawarra	0–0	Wollongong Entertainment Centre	–
20	28 December	@ Adelaide	0–0	Adelaide Entertainment Centre	–

January: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	Location Attendance	Record
21	5 January	@ New Zealand	0–0	Spark Arena	–
22	12 January	@ Tasmania	0–0	Derwent Entertainment Centre	–
23	15 January	@ Brisbane	0–0	Brisbane Entertainment Centre	–
24	17 January	Adelaide	0–0	Perth Arena	–
25	22 January	Melbourne	0–0	Perth Arena	–
26	25 January	Cairns	0–0	Perth Arena	–
27	31 January	S.E. Melbourne	0–0	Perth Arena	–

February: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
28	2 February	@ Sydney	0–0				Sydney SuperDome	–
29	7 February	Adelaide	0–0				Perth Arena

2024–25 season schedule

Transactions

Re-signed

Player	Date Signed	Contract	Ref.
Kristian Doolittle	19 March 2024	1-year deal	^[2]
Jesse Wagstaff	11 April 2024	1-year deal	^[3]
Tai Webster	12 April 2024	1-year deal	^[4]

Additions

Player	Date Signed	Contract	Former team	Ref.
Elijah Pepper	19 April 2024	2-year deal (club option)	UC Davis Aggies	^[5]
Izan Almansa	29 June 2024	1-year deal (next star)	NBA G League Ignite	^[6]

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	Date Left	New Team	Ref.
Alex Sarr	2024 NBA draft	26 June 2024	Washington Wizards	^[7]

Awards

Club awards

Club MVP:
Coaches’ Award:
Most Improved Player:
Best Defensive Player:
Players’ Player:

References

^ "Rillie good news as Wildcats coach re-signs". Wildcats.com.au. 17 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
^ "Doolittle rewarded with new deal". NBL.com.au. 19 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
^ "Sweet 16 in NBL for Wildcats captain Wagstaff". ESPN.com.au. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
^ "'We have a great chance': Tai locked in for NBL25". Wildcats.com.au. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
^ "Perth adds Pepper for NBL25". NBL.com.au. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
^ "Spanish sensation joins Wildcats as Next Star". Wildcats.com.au. 29 June 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
^ Trister, Noah (26 June 2024). "Washington Wizards take French 7-footer Alex Sarr with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

External links

Official Website

[1] "Rillie good news as Wildcats coach re-signs". Wildcats.com.au. 17 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

[2] "Doolittle rewarded with new deal". NBL.com.au. 19 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.

[3] "Sweet 16 in NBL for Wildcats captain Wagstaff". ESPN.com.au. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024.

[4] "'We have a great chance': Tai locked in for NBL25". Wildcats.com.au. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.

[5] "Perth adds Pepper for NBL25". NBL.com.au. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.

[6] "Spanish sensation joins Wildcats as Next Star". Wildcats.com.au. 29 June 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.

[7] Trister, Noah (26 June 2024). "Washington Wizards take French 7-footer Alex Sarr with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

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