NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2 Trade Targets: Buy, Hold & Sell

NBL27 SuperCoach Round 2 Trade Targets: Buy, Hold & Sell

Round 1 is finished. We finally have the full evidence set.

That matters because the first NBL27 trade period is not a preseason exercise anymore. We have real roles, real rotations, real injuries and — most importantly — a fixture swing that gives Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra and Perth two games in Round 2.

The final game of Round 1 sharpened the biggest decision on the board. Brisbane beat New Zealand 88–85 on Tuesday night, with Arnas Velička producing 23 points and 14 assists on debut. Parker Jackson-Cartwright was excellent again with 26 points and seven assists, while Sam Mennenga cooled to 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

So the PJC-to-Cotton move is no longer something to postpone. Round 1 is banked. Round 2 starts Wednesday night.

Buckets call: prioritise elite roles on doubles. Do not sell a good player because he played badly; sell when the fixture, price and replacement combine to make your team better.

Final Round 2 trade board

The order is deliberate. Cotton has the strongest combination of ceiling and fixture. Hickey and Pinder have already shown broad fantasy roles. Doolittle now has a much cleaner Round 2 runway because Brandon Knight will not arrive in Australia until next week.

BUY: Bryce Cotton

This was the trade we planned before Round 1. Nothing we saw over opening weekend has weakened it.

Cotton opened NBL27 with 29 points and seven assists in Adelaide's 97–95 win over Melbourne. The Sixers now play Perth on Thursday and Cairns on Sunday, beginning a stretch of early double-game rounds that makes the league's most expensive player much easier to justify.

PJC was outstanding across New Zealand's Round 1 double. That is not an argument against the trade. It is exactly why waiting until Round 1 finished was important.

Now the fixture flips.

Buckets call: the No. 1 Round 2 acquisition. If your Round 1 structure deliberately left enough money to turn PJC into Cotton, this is the moment that plan was built for.

BUY: Davo Hickey

Hickey may be the best trade for coaches who already own Cotton.

Illawarra lost its opener 95–81 to New Zealand, but Hickey produced 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists. The appeal is the shape of the line rather than the raw score: scoring, rebounding and creation all survived in a backcourt containing Milton Doyle and Tyler Harvey.

Illawarra now travels to Brisbane on Friday and Sydney on Sunday. The Hawks also own one of the strongest early double-game schedules in NBL27, so this does not have to be a one-week rental.

Buckets call: strong buy. The role can score fantasy points in several ways and the schedule keeps paying after this week.

BUY: Keanu Pinder

Cairns was beaten comfortably by Sydney, but Pinder's role travelled perfectly well in a losing team.

He finished with 27 points, five rebounds and four assists. Cairns now hosts Tasmania on Wednesday before travelling to Adelaide on Sunday.

The important part is not simply that Pinder scored 27. Cairns gave him enough offensive responsibility to create a strong fantasy line, and the rebounds and assists give him ways to survive a cooler shooting night.

Buckets call: one of the cleanest Round 2 buys. Two games plus premium involvement is exactly what we want.

BUY: Kristian Doolittle

This call has strengthened significantly since opening night.

Doolittle produced 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds against South East Melbourne while Perth tried to survive without a genuine point guard. Seven assists from a forward was the key fantasy signal.

The initial concern was obvious: Brandon Knight could arrive and immediately redistribute Perth's creation. That is no longer a Round 2 problem. Perth coach John Rillie has confirmed Knight remains in the United States and will not arrive in Australia until next week. He will miss Thursday against Adelaide and is unlikely to play Saturday against New Zealand.

That gives Doolittle a genuine two-game runway in the role we just saw.

The long-term warning remains. Knight will eventually change the hierarchy. But SuperCoach trades do not need to solve the whole season in one move.

Buckets call: upgraded to a clear Round 2 buy.

BUY — IF HUMPHRIES REMAINS OUT: Nick Rakocevic

Rakocevic had 14 points and nine rebounds against Melbourne with Isaac Humphries sidelined by a knee issue.

Adelaide's double is excellent. The uncertainty is entirely about role.

The latest official NBL injury list still has Humphries TBC. If he remains out, Rakocevic gets two games with a much cleaner path to centre minutes. If Humphries returns, the calculation changes immediately.

This is why the Round 2 Injury Report should be open before you lock this trade.

Buckets call: buy the confirmed minutes, not the attractive Round 1 box score.

SELL: Parker Jackson-Cartwright — but only for the right upgrade

PJC has done absolutely nothing wrong.

Against Illawarra he delivered 23 points and 13 assists. Against Brisbane he backed it up with 26 points and seven assists as New Zealand fell 88–85.

That is premium basketball.

But SuperCoach is not a reward for loyalty to last week's premium. New Zealand has only one Round 2 game, away to Perth on Saturday. Adelaide has two, and Cotton has the role and ceiling to punish coaches who ignore the fixture swing.

So this is not a form sell. It is a schedule sell.

If PJC-to-Cotton is affordable, we like it. If selling PJC forces two ugly trades or destroys a structure that is otherwise working, holding an elite player is hardly a disaster.

Buckets call: sell to Cotton where the move is clean; do not dump PJC merely to say you attacked a double.

SELL / STRUCTURE DEPENDENT: Sam Mennenga

Mennenga's Round 1 was a useful reminder of why two-game samples matter.

He opened with 27 points and eight rebounds against Illawarra, then Brisbane held him to 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

There is nothing alarming about the second line. He remains a good player with a real New Zealand role. The issue is that the Breakers now drop to one game while Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra and Perth double.

If Mennenga can become Pinder, Hickey via dual-position movement, or another strong double-game option without damaging the rest of your side, we are comfortable making the move.

Buckets call: more sellable than PJC because the ceiling is lower. Still not a panic trade.

HOLD FIRE: Jack McVeigh

McVeigh's first Cairns game produced only seven points, two rebounds and two assists against Sydney.

One game does not erase his season-long quality, and Cairns has the Round 2 double we want. But the double itself is not enough to make him a priority over Pinder, who already showed a stronger role in the same game.

Buckets call: hold if you own him; do not make him your first acquisition simply because Cairns plays twice.

HOLD: Cole Anthony, Kendric Davis and Xavier Cooks

The fixture should inform trades without making us silly.

Cole Anthony scored 30 on debut. Kendric Davis had 26 points, six assists and five rebounds. Xavier Cooks added 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

None has a Round 2 double. All have roles good enough to hold if moving them creates more problems than it solves.

In draft leagues, the double-game discussion barely matters. These are season-long assets.

Tuesday's new fantasy signal: Arnas Velička is real

Brisbane's opener produced the final major Round 1 role signal.

Velička finished with 23 points, 14 assists and five rebounds, hitting five threes as Brisbane came from 11 down to beat New Zealand. Tyrell Harrison added 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, while Nate Hinton contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Brisbane only plays once in Round 2, so this is not a reason to abandon the four double-game teams in Classic. It is much more important for draft.

Velička entered the season with strong preseason evidence as Brisbane's lead creator. Fourteen assists in his NBL debut is confirmation that the ball is genuinely going to live in his hands. If your draft league somehow left him available, that needs fixing.

Harrison also reinforced his premium centre floor, while Hinton's multi-category line is exactly the sort of profile that can outperform a points-only player in Buckets scoring.

For season-long rankings, see the NBL27 Fantasy Draft Top 50.

Round 2 fixtures

For every double ahead, use the NBL27 SuperCoach Fixture Guide.

Three rules before Round 2 lockout

1. Attack doubles with good players, not doubles for their own sake. Cotton, Hickey, Pinder and Doolittle have both role and schedule. That is why they lead the board.

2. Check the injury-created roles. Humphries directly changes Rakocevic. The Round 2 Injury Report is the companion piece to this guide.

3. Do not mistake a sell for a verdict on the player. PJC is a sell candidate because of the schedule, not because 49 points and 20 assists across two real games suddenly made him bad.

Draft leagues: the Round 1 names that matter

Classic coaches should be thinking fixtures. Draft managers should be thinking role permanence.

The strongest new draft evidence from Round 1 includes:

• Arnas Velička: 23 points and 14 assists confirms lead-guard upside.
• David Johnson: 26 points, six rebounds and six assists off Tasmania's bench demands a waiver/watchlist check, although the JackJumpers were short-handed.
• Dash Daniels: 24/12 followed by 11/3/4 gives us both the ceiling and a more realistic baseline.
• Davo Hickey: 18/9/5 strengthens an already appealing multi-category profile.
• Kristian Doolittle: seven assists without Knight is a major short-term role signal.

We will keep the Draft Top 50 for the season-long hierarchy rather than turning every big Round 1 box score into a new article.

FAQ

Who is the best NBL27 SuperCoach trade target for Round 2?

Bryce Cotton. Adelaide plays twice and Cotton opened the season with 29 points and seven assists. His combination of role, ceiling and fixture is the strongest on the board.

Should I trade PJC to Bryce Cotton?

Yes, if the move is structurally clean. PJC was excellent across New Zealand's Round 1 double, but the Breakers play once in Round 2 while Adelaide plays twice.

Is Sam Mennenga a sell?

He is a legitimate sell candidate rather than a must-sell. His Round 1 role remains sound, but moving him to a strong double-game player can improve Round 2 scoring opportunity.

Is Davo Hickey a Round 2 buy?

Yes. His 18-point, nine-rebound, five-assist opener showed a broad fantasy role and Illawarra has two games in Round 2 plus an excellent early-season double schedule.

Is Kristian Doolittle still risky because of Brandon Knight?

Not for Round 2 in the same way. Knight will not arrive in Australia until next week, so Doolittle should retain a major creation role across Perth's two Round 2 games. Knight remains a longer-term usage consideration.

Should I buy Nick Rakocevic?

Only after checking Isaac Humphries' knee status. Rakocevic becomes much more attractive if Humphries remains unavailable.

Which teams play twice in Round 2?

Adelaide, Cairns, Illawarra and Perth.

Buckets call: Round 1 gave us enough information to stop hedging. Cotton is the premium target; Hickey, Pinder and Doolittle are the strongest supporting buys; PJC and Mennenga are now genuine schedule sells; and Rakocevic remains the trade most dependent on late team news. Buy role + games + price + future schedule, not yesterday's points.

Thursday night update: Pepper forces his way up the board

Perth’s first game of the Round 2 double gave us a much stronger signal on Elijah Pepper. After scoring 19 in the opener, Pepper backed it up with 25 points, three rebounds and three assists in the 98–97 win over Adelaide — including the game-winning three. With Brandon Knight still unavailable and Perth hosting New Zealand on Saturday, Pepper’s scoring role is no longer just a one-game curiosity. Buckets call: BUY/HOLD through the second game of the double.

Anthony Dell’Orso also deserves a fresh watch after 20 points, six assists and three steals. That is a major response to his scoreless opener, but one rebound game is not enough to chase aggressively in SuperCoach. In draft formats, however, managers in deeper leagues should be checking availability now.

On the Adelaide side, Bryce Cotton justified the premium Round 2 strategy immediately: 37 points, nine assists and four steals while playing virtually the entire game. Adelaide still hosts Cairns on Sunday, so there is no reason to get cute with a successful Cotton move. Nick Rakocevic also strengthened his short-term case with 20 points and eight rebounds while Isaac Humphries remained sidelined.

The important distinction is evidence versus result-chasing: Pepper has now produced in consecutive games with the same Knight-less role; Dell’Orso has one breakout after a quiet opener. Treat them accordingly.

Cotton delivered — but do not project 40 minutes forward

Bryce Cotton rewarded the Round 2 premium trade immediately with 64 SuperCoach points against Perth: 37 points, nine assists, four steals and a block. That is the highest single-game SuperCoach score of NBL27 so far. Adelaide still has Cairns to come on Sunday, so there is absolutely no reason to move away from Cotton during the double.

There is one important piece of context for what comes next. Cotton played essentially the entire game against Perth, and Trevor Gleeson subsequently admitted he had overplayed his star guard. Gleeson also said Adelaide became too reliant on getting Cotton the ball rather than running its offence.

That does not weaken the Round 2 buy call. It does mean fantasy coaches should not build future projections around another 40-minute workload. Cotton remains an elite premium because of his role, scoring and playmaking — not because Adelaide intends to play him every second.

Buckets call: hold Cotton with confidence and enjoy the second game of the double. Treat Thursday’s monster workload as an outlier, not a new minutes baseline.