Winning has always followed Matt Mims wherever he's played and he's shooting for an NBL1 East championship in 2026 and isn't afraid to admit he's hoping for an NBL opportunity at some stage.

Meeting Matt Flinn while visiting his girlfriend led Matt Mims to Illawarra Hawks and he's forming quite the imposing big three in NBL1 East with Todd Blanchfield and Mason Peatling while chasing a championship, and who knows where it could lead him.

Before he finished his time at college at South Dakota State, Mims came to Australia to visit girlfriend, and then Darwin Salties player, Sophie Johnston, and that's where the seed was planted to come out and play NBL1.

Flinn was coaching the Salties men at the time before returning to Wollongong to both be an assistant coach on the Hawks NBL team and also to coach the Illawarra side in NBL1 East.

So it was only a natural for that to be Mims' first stop after graduating college and he liked it so much that he's never left.

Mims stayed in the NBL1 off-season to be around the Hawks for NBL26. Now after being a key player on the Illawarra team that made the Grand Final before a heartbreaking loss to the Canberra Gunners, his game has gone up another gear.

After producing 14.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists on 44 per cent three-point shooting in 2025, Mims is now up to 24.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists on 47 per cent long-range shooting for the 6-1 Hawks to open 2026.

Mims felt like he kept getting better over the off-season and now is glad to see it paying off in a team that's firing alongside NBL veterans and championship winners Blanchfield and Peatling.

"I stayed in Australia through the off-season and I actually did a coaching internship with the NBL Hawks, but I also got to practice with them as well," Mims said.

"Just being in that environment every day and working with guys like Tyler Harvey, Davo and honestly all the guys, it definitely made me a better basketball player.

"You're kinda seeing the result of that a little bit this year, but also I have a lot more confidence going into this season too just because I know more what to expect and how to be successful.

"I feel that trust from my teammates and I put a lot of work into my game too. All those things combined is behind the product you're getting out there this year so far."

Visions for professional career

It wasn’t really until things continued to flourish in his relationship with an Australian girl while at college and then he came out to visit in that American summer where Mims started to think playing down under could be where his future lied.

He always knew that he wanted to play professionally somewhere and one thing he always knew he could bring to whatever team he was on was that winning tends to follow him.

"I played at a Division 1 school but I was more of a role player and we just had some really dynamic guards," Mims said.

"We had one guy who got drafted first round by the Celtics and he just finished his season (Baylor Scheierman), and another dude is playing G League with the Cavs (Zeke Mayo).

"So I kinda just had to find my role with that team and at the end of my college career I knew I definitely wanted to show what I could do a little it more.

"So that has kinda been my mindset, just to be me and really just show what I have to offer every single time I get on the court.

"So that's what I've been trying to do and throughout my whole life from all the way down to when I was little to high school and college, I've always been part of winning teams.

"That's what I bring to the table more than anything, I just really want to show that I can impact winning in any way possible."

Coming down under and staying

There were plenty of reasons for the NBL1 and specifically Illawarra to be the first stop for Mims after he finished in college at South Dakota State.

He knew he was coming to Australia anyway to spend time with his partner. So it only made sense to play basketball as well and especially to do it at the Hawks when Flinn was keen to have him on board for the 2025 NBL1 East season.

"A big reason why Australia was kind of my destination is that my partner Sophie who I met in college, she's from Australia," Mims said.

"She played in the States and our schools were pretty close and that's how we met, and she graduated a year earlier than me.

"She was playing up in Darwin when they had an NBL1 team so I went out to visit her one summer and that's when I met coach Flinny who was coaching the men's team at the time.

"I was preparing for my senior college season so I asked if I could practice with his team and he let me do that with them for basically a month, and I did pretty well.

"One thing led to another and after my finished in college, he asked if I wanted to come play in Illawarra and that's how it all came about for that first season. I knew I wanted to play NBL1 so I could be close to Sophie but I didn’t know when or where, but it's ended up working out pretty perfectly."

Looking back on Grand Final season

In a lot of ways last season was a feeling out process and a learning one for Mims as he was adjusting to life in a new country, a new style of basketball and playing at a different level for the first time.

He did adjust well to be a key member of a team that made the Grand Final and went ever so close to winning a championship but like for much of his college career, he was behind a star in the back court with Kobe McDowell-White.

Flinn was willing to hand Mims the keys to the Hawks for 2026. With Blanchfield and Peatling combining with him for as imposing of a big three as there is in the country, and he is feeling good about their chances to go one better than 2025.

"Last year was awesome and for me it was just adjusting to the Australian style of play, and just getting a feel of how to be successful in NBL1 and in this country in general," Mims said.

"I think what was really good about our team last year was that we battled through some adversity early on but everything just kept bringing us closer.

"Whenever something bad happened or we weren’t playing well, instead of splitting apart, we always seemed to get even closer and it took us all the way to the Grand Final.

"We just came up short which is just the way it goes sometimes, but we learned a lot and I definitely enjoyed the chance to play in a championship environment like that to get a taste of it.

"Obviously the goal's always to win a championship so hopefully we can get it done this year. I think that definitely played a role and losing in the Grand Final especially in that game, that was one of those games you wish you could get back just because it was so close. So that played a role in me wanting to come back for sure."

Shooting for an NBL opportunity

Now that Mims has shown just how rapidly he has been able to grow from one NBL1 season to the next, and also spent time in and around an NBL team in between, he isn’t afraid to shoot for that as a goal to achieve.

If Mims can put up the numbers he is this NBL1 season and with the quality of the East conference growing all the time meaning he's doing it against high-quality opposition, he doesn’t think the NBL is an unrealistic goal either.

"I think that NBL is one of the best leagues in the world so that is definitely a big goal of mine to play in that league one day," Mims said.

"I know it might be a little harder since I'm an import, but I'm the type of dude who's going to shoot for the stars every time.

"I think it's doable and I think I'm good enough, and I'm just going to keep working hard and see what happens.

"But it definitely would be cool to play at that level and that's part of the reason too why I wanted to play down here in Illawarra just because of the connection to the NBL club. I'm just right there and coach Flinny is on staff too so it just kinda makes sense for all those reasons."

Calling Australia a permanent home

Given Mims has virtually never left Wollongong since arriving to play that 2025 season and he spent the entire NBL1 off-season in town, and now is playing for a second season, he certainly wouldn’t complain to make it a longer term home.

With plenty of reasons to continue living in Australia, he is open to the idea of getting naturalised when that option becomes available and seeing where that might lead.

"That's another thing I've been looking at too and I might have to stay in Australia a little longer yet, but I'm definitely working towards getting naturalised," Mims said.

"I would love to stay here in Australia, I absolutely love it especially because it's a little easier with my partner here too. It would be really cool if I became an Aussie that's for sure."

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Mims willing to shoot big to achieve dreams