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Taipans take bite out of $50,000 Shoot Out bonus
Rob Edwards of the Taipans dunks the ball during the round 18 NBL match between Perth Wildcats and Cairns Taipans at RAC Arena on January 25, 2025, in Perth, Australia. Photo: James Worsfold/Getty Images
Star guard Rob Edwards has played his last game for the Cairns Taipans
- Wooden spooners Cairns Taipans win $50,000 NBL Summer Shootout
- It comes as star guard Rob Edwards is leaving the club early
- Cairns play their last game against Brisbane Bullets on February 6, 2025
Cairns Taipans won the NBL25 Summer Shootout and the $50,000 prize that came with it.
It is a silver lining on what has been a tough 2024-25 campaign for the Far North Queenslanders. They will "win" the wooden spoon and $50K after racking up 111 points against the Brisbane Bullets on January 17, 2025 in round 17.
NBL Summer Shoot Out Results
- Melbourne United 81 lost to Adelaide 36ers 100 on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
- Sydney Kings 91 beat Brisbane Bullets 86 on Saturday, January 4, 2025.
- Adelaide 36ers 103 lost to Tasmania JackJumpers 104 on Friday, January 10, 2025.
- Perth Wildcats 105 beat Tasmania JackJumpers 73 on Sunday, January 12, 2025.
- Cairns Taipans 111 beat Brisbane Bullets 80 on Friday, January 17, 2025.
- New Zealand Breakers 89 lost to South East Melbourne Phoenix 102 on Saturday, January 18, 2025.
- Illawarra Hawks 94 lost to Cairns Taipans 100 on Thursday, January 23, 2025.
- Tasmania JackJumpers 80 lost to South East Melbourne Phoenix 116 on Saturday, January 25, 2025.
- Brisbane Bullets 92 beat Adelaide 36ers 89 on Friday, January 31, 2025.
- South East Melbourne Phoenix 99 lost to Perth Wildcats 100 on Friday, January 31, 2025.
The Taipans cash bonus comes as NBL.com.au's Chris Pike reports that star guard Rob Edwards is on the move.
Edwards played his last game for the Taipans against the New Zealand Breakers at Spark Arena on Saturday night and he didn’t play most of the last quarter after the Snakes fell 21 points behind simply because Forde didn’t want to risk anything happening to him.
Edwards, 28, averaged 19.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in NBL25.
"We sat Rob when we found ourselves down 21 because Rob is going to be moving on to a situation that is very financially benefitting for him," Taipans head coach Adam Forde said.
"There's a benefit to the club and it's sad to see him go, but right now we're going to do a send off for him while we're in New Zealand.
"When I saw ourselves down 21, the last thing I wanted to do was be responsible for him rolling an ankle in a game that was potentially going to get pretty bad."
It hasn't been smooth sailing for Edwards and Forde this season as the Taipans endured a crushing double-digits losing streak.
"Rob's a family man too and these are the things we take into consideration. He's a dad to a newborn that he was away from during the birth," Forde said.
"There's a lot of sacrifices these professional athletes make and in Rob's case, he was able to go back during the FIBA break in November but the birth of his daughter happened when he was here being an amazing soldier and teammate for us.
"Rob's done a fantastic job of putting the club and team first, and now this is a situation for him that we embrace and look forward to for him.
"It helps with the recruiting process too because he was a guy we brought in after he fell out of the rotation in the G League at a great dollar rate, he's capitalised and he remained consistent for us. He's one of the best people I've ever worked with."
Cairns plays its last game of NBL25 against the Brisbane Bullets (Game Centre) at home on Thursday, February 6, 2025.
