Melbourne Tigers are poised to follow Sydney and look for a recent NBA player after releasing guard Ayinde Ubaka on Sunday.
Sydney will on Monday formally introduce 249 NBA-game swingman Sam Young, who will replace point guard Jesse Sanders.
Young is poised to make his NBL debut next Sunday in a mouth-watering clash with unbeaten Perth (8-0), who have made a franchise record start to their season.
Perth followed up a 75-68 home win over Cairns (2-5) in last Thursday's opening game of round six with an 89-76 away victory over last-placed Wollongong (1-6) on Sunday.
Melbourne coach Chris Anstey said Ubaka, who was an eve-of-season replacement for the injured Stephen Dennis, had a couple of things to attend to and his departure was a mutual decision.
He said Melbourne would look for an athletic combo guard and a player recently released from an NBA roster, as they would be more game ready than other potential recruits.
Melbourne (4-3) consolidated a top-four spot with an 88-85 home win over Cairns on Saturday, with in-form guard Chris Goulding torching the Taipans for 31 points.
Young, who was recently cut by San Antonio, will have a contract clause allowing him to leave during the NBL season if he gets an offer from an NBA club.
"One thing I do know is we're not going to go down the path of having an NBA out clause written into the contract of whoever comes," Anstey said.
"I would hope that whoever we bring in comes with the mindset that they are with us until hopefully a finals campaign and they don't have one foot out the door and their ear to a phone waiting for an NBA call up."
Sydney coach Shane Heal acknowledged there was a risk in recruiting a player who could leave mid-season.
Heal also said there was a risk in replacing specialist point guard Sanders at the one spot with either captain Ben Madgen or American Charles Carmouche, who did play some college ball in the position.
Madgen scored 23 and AJ Ogilvy tallied 15 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks in Sydney's 88-67 home win over Townsville (2-4) on Friday night, when Sanders signed off with 14 points.
Jermaine Beal hit a game-high 24 points, including six three-pointers, and fellow import James Ennis 21 for Perth in their win over Wollongong.
Ennis scored 22 in the win over Cairns, with talismanic big man Matt Knight returning from an ankle injury.
Perth face a challenging round next week, going to second-placed Adelaide (6-2) on Friday before hosting Sydney (4-3) on Sunday.
The Adelaide 36ers continued the early-season woes of defending champions New Zealand (2-6), beating them 95-94 at Vector Arena on Friday.
Guard Gary Ervin, who finished with a game-high 26 points, executed a steal and lay-up on the buzzer to help Adelaide overcome a nine-point final-quarter deficit.
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