Australian rookies Mitch Creek and Deng Adel have suffered blows to their NBA dreams.
The Brooklyn Nets announced on Friday they were cutting former Adelaide 36ers star Creek and the Toronto Raptors offered similar grim news for athletic swingman Adel.
The NBA regular season begins next Tuesday and teams are forced to cut their bloated pre-season rosters.
Creek, after battling with the 36ers for an opportunity to play in the NBA and suffering an abductor strain during his time in Brooklyn, made it onto the court for only two minutes in a game against the Raptors on Wednesday.
He didn't play in the Nets' final pre-season game on Friday against the New York Knicks.
Creek and Adel will likely attempt to secure a place on an NBA G League team or head to Europe.
The Raptors announced on Friday they were waiving Adel and three other players, guards Kyle Collinsworth and Kay Felder and centre Eric Moreland.
Adel, a 201cm tall Sudan-born, Melbourne-raised 21-year-old was impressive when given opportunities by the Raptors in the pre-season.
In the two games he had court time he averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 12.3 minutes, highlighted by his 13 points and three rebounds last week against visiting NBL team Melbourne United.
Adel's fate was sealed when the Raptors signed Canadian forward Chris Boucher to a two-way contract, something Adel was competing for.
Adel, a star at the University of Louisville before going undrafted at this year's NBA Draft, originally signed a training camp deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves but last month agreed to a partially guaranteed contract in Toronto.
