The Sydney Kings have landed their first import for the 2017-18 NBL season, signing US college star forward Perry Ellis.
The 23-year-old comes to the Kings from the NBA development league team Greensboro Swarm following a four-year career at the University of Kansas where he averaged 12.5 points and 5.8 rebounds over 144 college games.
The 201 cm tall forward who tips the scales at 99kg left as an all-time top-10 scorer at Kansas, which has produced NBA stars Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Pierce, Jo Jo White and Danny Manning.
Kings managing director Jeff Van Groningen flew to the US to wrap up negotiations with Ellis and said he admired both his skill-set and personality.
"Perry is a rare combination of very high character and very high performance wrapped into one guy," he said on Friday.
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Head coach Andrew Gaze said he was looking forward to writing Ellis' name down on this season's roster.
"I have followed Perry's career for a number of years and always enjoy watching Kansas play," Gaze said.
"As far back as this time last year Jeff and I spoke about how beneficial it would be if a guy 'like' Perry Ellis could join our team - so it's fair to say we are thrilled that we have the man himself signing with us."
"His pedigree, versatility and basketball IQ will be key attributes that will assist us in strongly moving this program forward."
Ellis, who also played a role as a key member of the United States national team that won the 2015 World University Games, will take part in a full summer schedule in the US before joining his new Sydney teammates.
