Image credit: Tyson Lumbaca | @ty.visuales
He could very well be the best pure playmaker and ball handler in the country without an NBL contract but that's the last thing on Emmett Naar's mind as he embraces a first experience in NBL1 West at Rockingham Flames.
Naar is fresh off a brilliant NBL1 North season in 2024 where he helped the Mackay Meteors to the championship and then into the decider at the National Finals on the Sunshine Coast before being called up for another NBL opportunity at the Brisbane Bullets.
He was able to do all that alongside close mate Isaac White with the pair the star signings at the Rockingham Flames for the 2025 NBL1 West to play under 2022 WNBL Coach of the Year Ryan Petrik who would enable them to play a style they are perfectly suited to.
Having come out of Saint Mary's College where he continued Australia's rich history and then spending four NBL seasons at the Illawarra Hawks, and since playing in the Netherlands as well as stints in the NZ NBL, NBL1 South and NBL1 North, it was a fresh challenge he was after in 2025.
That's where the chance to move to Perth for a season was appealing as was being handed the reigns to play an up-tempo and free wheeling style with Petrik as coach, and then the icing on the cake was that he was going to get to do it all with White.
The result has certainly been enjoyable 12 games into the NBL1 West season too with the Flames sitting in top spot at 11-1 on a nine-game winning streak with Naar producing 16.6 points, 8.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals while shooting at 62 per cent from the field.
Making the move West
The initial seed for Naar to even consider the move to the NBL1 West was planted when current fellow Rockingham player Georgia Pineau told him how much she was loving the experience when they chatted on the Sunshine Coast last August.
Then when Naar was weighing up what to do next in 2025 on the back of the NBL season at the Bullets, he did like the thought of a new challenge and that's when the call from the Flames, and he's never looked back.
"How it all started was actually at the National Finals last year when we were chatting to Georgia Pineau and she was telling us how fun it was over here and how well Rockingham had treated her," Naar said.
"I didn’t really think much of it after that but then they reached out to me and Isaac while we were in Brisbane.
"I haven't spent much time out here before but I do have a brother who lives in Perth so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see somewhere new and get to see him a bit more.
"It's pretty lucky with the NBL1 where you can travel the country and while you're getting to play basketball have these different experiences."
Looking for a new challenge
After finishing up at the Hawks in the NBL following the 2021/22 season and then playing in the NBL1 South at Ringwood, Naar headed to the Netherlands to play with Den Bosch before returning to Australia to play at Mackay last year.
That season turned out brilliantly both from an individual and team perspective, but with coach Joel Khalu moving on along with White, Todd Blanchfield and Luca Yates among those championship winners not returning, Naar was looking for a new home.
For a lot of reasons, the move to WA enticed him and then to play at Rockingham felt like the ideal fit.
"I loved my time in Mackay and I'm sure if JK had stayed then there probably would have been a high chance I wanted to go back and try to repeat, but things just didn’t work out that way," Naar said.
"I'm sort of at a point in my career now where I don’t know how many years I'll keep playing so it was all about trying something new and this opportunity came up at the right time, and I was happy to jump at the chance."
Package deal with Isaac White
Considering Naar has been teammates with White at the Hawks and Bullets now in the NBL, and on that Mackay championship team, it would be easy to see why people might assume that they come as a package deal.
They are close friends and housemates too now on Rockingham as they have been in Mackay and Brisbane, but really it wasn’t as though Naar and White were selling themselves as a duo to prospective suitors for this NBL1 season.
It just happened to be that the Flames had a couple of spots free in their back court in 2025 and Petrik was keen to have them on board as a double act.
"I wouldn’t say it was a do-or-die thing where we had to play together, but obviously knowing each other really well, it just makes it easier especially going somewhere that you don’t know anywhere else," Naar said.
"Just having someone that you're already close to makes it a bit easier to make that jump. We're in sort of a lucky position where Isaac is obviously a high level player where he could probably pick anywhere that he wants to play.
"He has that choice where he's prioritising not just the basketball, but who's on the team and things like that. It is lucky that it worked out where we know we get along with each other, we're roommates and he's easy enough to live with so it's just worked out well."
Style of play under Petrik
The lure of experiencing the lifestyle of living in WA and then being closer to his brother in Perth was one factor for Naar, but he would also only want to play for a coach who could allow him to thrive.
That's where the chance to play under Petrik who has had his Perth Lynx in the WNBL play with a distinctive style has had them knocking on the door of a championship for the last four years.
Petrik's also proven successful in bringing championship glory to both Rockingham women's and men's teams so when Naar was weighing up who to play under after Khalu in Mackay, he could think of no one better.
"I played in the slowest team in the country in college so I've sort of gone to the opposite end of the spectrum now," Naar said.
"College obviously was a great time, but the fast paced style is a lot of fun to play and it's a bit more of that modern style where you get out and run, shoot threes and try to get as many possessions as you can.
"It's sort of similar to how we played in Mackay as well so it's a pretty easy transition and I think it's just a more fun style to play.
"Everyone can get their shots up if you're happy doing that, and I'd heard nothing but good things about Petrik as a coach, and the style he likes his teams to play. It has sort of worked out well in that way too and so far it's been a good fit."
What's next in career
When things didn’t quite go to plan at the end of his time in the NBL at the Hawks, Naar wasn’t unsure if another NBL opportunity would ever open up and that's what took him to the Netherlands.
Then even after that season in Mackay in 2024, he didn’t go into the NBL season on a roster but early into NBL25 and the Bullets signed him as an injury replacement to Sam McDaniel.
Now again there are no guarantees of what will come next and while he has the game that belongs in the NBL, he knows that he can't do much more than just keep doing what he's doing.
"I haven’t really heard anything and I guess I'm not really waiting around waiting for something to pop up either," Naar said.
"Before I went to Brisbane, it wasn’t like I was necessarily looking for that opportunity, it just happened after I had sort of resigned myself to moving on to the next stage of my life.
"That Brisbane scenario was sort of just a bonus for me and if something comes up again, I'm open to it and would embrace it obviously.
"But I'm not sort of sitting here waiting by the phone and hoping desperately it happens, I'm at peace with where I'm because I know I can't really do anything more than keep playing as well as I can at NBL1 level and see if anyone wants to give me another chance."
What might come after basketball
Now that Naar has passed his 30th birthday and isn’t sure if another professional contract might be come his way whether in Australia or overseas, he is thinking about what might come next for a career but he doesn't have too many clear answers just yet.
"The big question is what the next step is for me. I've got a business degree and I've done some work over in Wollongong as a support worker with people with disabilities," Naar said.
"That's a job that I quite enjoyed and found fairly rewarding so that could be something I look into doing full-time, but my options are open.
"If anyone wants to reach out and offer me a job, then I'll happily consider it so I'm open to anything at this stage."
Finding some new hobbies
What the move to WA has also left Naar on the lookout for is some new hobbies. He's quickly found that surfing and taking up woodworking have been some good time killers even if he doesn’t possess to be that proficient at either.
"The life of a professional basketballer can give you a great problem to have because you can end up with quite a lot of free-time especially when you're playing in the NBL1," Naar said.
"You're only practicing twice a week at night time so all the rest is free-time and there's only so much working out you can do, which is left up to you.
"You do have a lot of time and it can be a nice thing because you have to be creative with finding things to do. So since I've been over here, I've been going surfing as much as I can and I've even started doing some woodworking.
"I'd say I'm better at surfing so far, but that's not saying much. I've just put a lot more time into that so far but I have made a chopping board so far which is pretty basic but it turned out alright."