Olgun Uluc, ESPN Basketball Insider2 Minute Read
D.J. Hogg has signed a two-year deal with the Sydney Kings, sources told ESPN.
Hogg joins the Kings after spending the 2022-23 NBL season with the Cairns Taipans, where he emerged as one of the league’s premier imports and was named to the All-NBL Second Team.
The second year of the deal is a mutual option, sources said; Hogg is the first import signing of the offseason for the Kings, who are coming off back-to-back NBL Championships.
Hogg, a 6’9 forward, averaged 18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game over the last NBL season; scoring at a high rate at all three levels, while also being among the league’s most versatile defensive players.
The expectation and hope from both parties is for Hogg to pick up where he left off last season and enter his 2023-24 campaign playing at an MVP level.
After going undrafted in 2018, Hogg spent time with multiple NBA G-League franchises — the Delaware Blue Coats, Wisconsin Herd, and Lakeland Magic — before joining Cholet Basket in France’s Pro A league.
He signed with the Taipans for the 2022-23 NBL season and led them to a semi-finals appearance, where they lost to the Kings in three games. Hogg is currently playing for Indios de Mayagüez in Puerto Rico’s Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
There was interest from across the NBL in Hogg, with the Kings, Taipans, and Illawarra Hawks the three teams that put forward the most competitive offers for the 26-year-old, sources said. The Kings’ history of graduating players to the NBA played a key role in Hogg choosing to join the team.
Hogg joins a Kings roster that currently has Dejan Vasiljevic, Angus Glover, Shaun Bruce, Jaylin Galloway, Kouat Noi, Jordan Hunter, and Makuach Maluach contracted.
The Kings are coming off a league-best 19-9 record, en route to a second straight NBL title. The team recently made the decision not to exercise the team option on head coach Chase Buford’s contract; they have begun a ‘global search’ for his replacement.