200-gamer Davis' pride in being a warrior

Featured image: Tyson Lumbaca | @ty.visuales

It takes a whole lot for Caleb Davis to miss a game and that's why he's now got to 200 just about as quickly as possible in the NBL1 West and he couldn't be happier with the new home he has at Joondalup Wolves and now playing as a father.

Even while attending college at Saginaw Valley State University alongside long-time teammate and best mate CJ Turnage, Davis would come back to play at the Warwick Senators.

That meant before he even returned home full-time in 2019, he already had 48 games to his credit and he has remained a remarkably durable athlete ever since both with the Senators and now in a third season with the Wolfpack.

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Not only has he been a regular on the court at both clubs, but has been one of the best and most consistent, and versatile, big men who can battle inside with the beasts, can rebound strongly and has been a high-volume mid-to-high 30 per cent shooter right along the way.

Now because of that durability, the soon-to-be 31-year-old reaches 200 games this Saturday night when the Wolves play host to the Goldfields Giants at Arena Joondalup and he'll have his pregnant wife Mer and their daughter Winnie there for the occasion.

For Davis, the 200-game milestone means a lot to him and he takes great pride in the precious few games he has missed along the way.

"It's really cool to get to a 200-game milestone and one of the things I say to people is that I pride myself on being able to play as many games as possible," Davis said.

"Even if I have a few niggles or those sort of things, I still feel like I can be valuable somewhere on the court so I like to play through that sort of stuff and I suppose be a bit of a warrior where I can and play through things.

"That's probably allowed me to get there pretty quickly and I know even when I was at college I used to come back each year when I could play six, seven or eight games just because I enjoy the league so much.

"Especially when I first started, I was 17, 18 and playing against some of the grown men like Ray Turner and Lee Roberts back when he was in his prime.

"Playing against those guys back in those days helped my development so much and I always have loved playing in this league."

Being durable along the way

The durability of Davis his entire career has been one of his great strengths and from when he arrived back from college and his time in Adelaide, he played 96 of a possible 100 games with the Senators up to the end of 2023.

He also played 13 of the 15 in the triumphant West Coast Classic season and now since arriving at Joondalup, he hasn’t missed a single game.

Davis has been out there for 55 of a possible 55 games so far at the Wolves since the start of 2024 and now he will reach his 200th game this Saturday night with his body still holding up well even if he's now into his 30s.

"There's definitely more niggles now than there sort of was five or 10 years ago, but knock on wood I've really been lucky that I haven’t had any serious injuries that have taken me out throughout my career for half a season or a season or anything like that," Davis said.

"I've missed the odd game here or there for a concussion or something like that, and I missed one for a mates wedding, but apart from that I've been really, really lucky.

"I sort of feel really lucky that I haven’t had any of those serious injuries and knock on wood I don't get any now. Some people try to avoid talking about things like that, but I have the opposite approach and talk openly about and don’t play into those jinxes or anything like that."

Creating a new home at Joondalup

Davis admits to being nervous after making the decision to leave Warwick at the end of 2023 and join the Wolfpack for the 2024 NBL1 West season.

In a basketball sense, it's probably the biggest decision he's had to make to leave his original home club, but from the moment he first arrived at Arena Joondalup he has known he made the right call.

"They've just welcomed me in with open arms and when I first made the move I was really nervous walking in there on my first day," Davis said.

"But I can honestly say since the very first day I walked in they have just welcomed me with open arms and Andrew particularly, the CEO.

"He has been amazing to me and all the people around the club, all the kids you meet and all their families, they've just been overwhelmingly supportive of me making the move to Joondalup. It really does feel like a family there now."

Professionalism of the Wolfpack

Davis will never have anything negative to say about the Senators where he played all his junior basketball and where he played the first 144 matches of his SBL/NBL1 West career and also tasted success with the 2020 West Coast Classic championship.

But he also had a strong desire to play with CJ Turnage once more and for that to happen, he made the move to Joondalup. He has been blown away ever since by the professionalism of the Wolves led by chief executive Andrew Summerville.

"I don't think I'm out of school saying this, Joondalup is pretty proud to announce that the NBL1 club is fully self sufficient now and not relying on any funding from any of the junior programs," Davis said.

"I don’t actually know if there's another program in the country that can say that. That's a huge tip of the hat to Andrew with what he's been able to do at Joondalup and a lot of the stuff would stack really well compared to a lot of professional clubs.

"Particularly when I think about when I was at the 36ers, some of the things that we do at Joondalup now are more than we were doing with Adelaide.

"Some of the recovery stuff we do and the facilities we have access to along with the physios and support people around us, it's as close as it can get to a professional club without officially being one."

On the hunt for more success

Every season that Davis has played since returning home to Perth has been on a team that's made finals and been capable of going a long way whether at the Senators or Wolves.

That did see him part of the 2020 West Coast Classic triumph with Warwick but he has been trying to get back to a Grand Final since to have a chance at an elusive NBL1 championship.

He sees no reason that should this Wolfpack team of 2026 keep coming together as the year goes on with a new coach, Lucas Allen, and some new faces like Sharif Black and Taylor Young that they can't be genuine contenders.

"We're confident we can make a run and it's going to be a building process for us all year I think," Davis said.

"We've got a few new pieces in and our offence and defence are both very different to what we've been doing in years prior.

"So it's a learning process I suppose not only for Lucas coming in as a new coach because this is his first time having the reins of a team at this level even though obviously he's been involved at the South East Melbourne Phoenix and had some pretty high profile guys there that he's worked with.

"But in terms of being the guy that makes the calls, this is his first time at this level so it's a learning process for him.

"It's a learning process for us too and we're just sort of chipping away throughout the year and hoping that by the time it comes second half or three quarters through the year that we'll hit our straps and find a bit of momentum.

"We're confident that can take us through to the finals and at the end of the day you want to hit your straps at the right time of the year and that's what we're working towards."

Doing it now as a father

Over the past year Davis has got to experience something else for the first time and that's playing basketball while a father after he and Mer welcomed daughter Winnie into their lives.

There's a second child now on the way too and Davis already has been blown away by how many things in life change by being a dad.

"It all happened pretty quickly and it's a massive life change. It's so rewarding obviously being a dad especially now that she's getting that little bit older," Davis said.

"That early part of being a dad is often quite hard for men because it's hard to make a connection with the little ones early on when they're heavily reliant on their mum in those early stages.

"But once they start to develop a little bit and when they know who dad is. Especially when you come home from work or from basketball and she's just sitting there with a massive smile on her face, some of those frustrations from basketball disappear pretty quickly now.

"But before she was there, I used to hold onto those things a fair bit and now with her here, they disappear pretty quickly."

Motivation to keep playing as a dad

It's a fine balancing act now for Davis to want to share his playing career with daughter Winnie and once he and Mer welcome their second child later this year while also wanting to be home and spending enough time with them.

But when he sees Winnie's face light up when he's out on the court there's not many better feelings so he will want to keep trying to balance the family life, playing basketball and working full-time for as long as he can.

"She'll be there on Saturday night and tip-off is right around her bed time but she'll be there for sure and hang in there for as long as she can," Davis said.

"I do want to keep playing as she starts to grow up bit it's also a fine line because playing at this level takes up so much time away from home and being with her.

"But her looking up and even now she knows who I am when she's been to games and she sees me running around on the court and she's sitting on the sidelines yellowing out 'dada' and clapping and everything else.

"So that's so rewarding and I'd love her to get into basketball one day too and I'd love to transition over to the coaching side one day and have her love basketball as much as I do, but obviously she's free do whatever she wants.

"I'll always support her with whatever that is and I can't wait to see her grow up."