Lamar lives every Dad's dream but not done yet

Featured image: P2DK Photography - @p2dk_photography

Lamar Patterson showed early last NBL season what he can still do and hamstring surgery means he's now in a better place physically to keep going while his immediate focus is the NBL1 North finals with Ipswich Force having got to play with son Zaiden.

Going back to 2025 and Patterson's then 17-year-old son Zaiden had joined the NBL1 training squad at Ipswich for the first time and that dream of father and son playing together at state league level was within touching distance.

Now that has become a reality when they first played together for Ipswich back on June 20 against the Southern Districts Spartans.

Zaiden, now 18, might not have got on the floor last Saturday night, but his dad sure did with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as Ipswich ended the season of the Sunshine Coast Phoenix on their own home floor as the father and son now chase an NBL1 North championship together.

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The next challenge is this Saturday night in Cairns when they take on the undefeated Marlins with a place in next week's Grand Final series on the line.

Ipswich might be without Sam McDaniel, but with Lamar in fine form and now back to full health and form, and with Lachlan Anderson fresh off 26 points and seven rebounds against the Phoenix, they do head to the Far North confident.

It would be an almighty upset if the Force are able to beat Kody Stattmann, Amarco Doyle, Luca Yates, Kobe McDowell-White and the undefeated Marlins, but Patterson certainly isn’t going into the game expecting anything but a win.

"I'm feeling good and I think we all are to get the chance to take on the top team but at this point everyone's pretty much the same," Lamar said.

"They do have the home final and stuff like that, but everyone knows at this stage it's win or go home and just coz they were 16-0 and we were 8-8, that doesn’t really mean that much at this point.

"You still have to go out and play the game, and I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure they are too. It should be a good game."

Playing best basketball at the right time

It's been a rollercoaster ride all season for Ipswich in the NBL1 North with Lamar not able to play coming off hamstring surgery until their third game and it took him a while to warm back up.

Then Sam McDaniel now hasn’t played over the past month and isn’t expected back in time for Saturday night in Cairns having this week won silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with the Australian Gangurrus.

But the Force still did enough to make the playoffs from sixth position at 8-8 before then beating the third ranked Sunshine Coast last Saturday in what was a strong showing.

That gives Lamar confident now that they can go up to Cairns on Saturday and pull off what those on the outside might see as the impossible.

"For me it's just another day at the office but we played well last week and it was good to show what we could do after a bit of a bumpy season," Lamar said.

"Smack was in and out with injuries, I was trying to work my way back too coming off the surgery and going into the season we knew it might be a little bumpy.

"We just had to kinda survive and try to make finals and hopefully by that stage, have everybody healthy.

"We probably weren’t expecting to lose Smack but I'm healthy, Lachy's healthy and the rest of the team is healthy so we're gonna give it the best crack at it that we've got."

Living out dream of playing with son

The other great bonus this season for Lamar is the chance to share an NBL1 court with his 18-year-old son.

Zaiden has a bright future and looks set to be leaving for college next year so there's every chance this 2026 season would have been the only chance they got to play together, and Lamar will treasure forever that he has got to do it.

"It's been great and the couple of times we've got out on the court together, it's been amazing. It's something that 99 per cent of athletes don’t get to endure," Lamar said.

"You get a few here and there, but being able to experience playing out there with my son is something pretty amazing.

"I remember changing his diaper and stuff like that, and now we're out there playing together and I'm giving him tips and stuff like that at this sort of level. Just watching him grow puts everything in full circle with me and it's good that I get to enjoy this with him.

"Watching him develop has been awesome and now to see him come out there with confidence and actually playing well, it makes me really happy."

Creating lifelong memories

LeBron and Bronny James might have made a father and son playing together into somewhat of a comedy act, but the fact is it's a rare feat and something the Patterson family is always going to treasure.

Darryl McDonald got to do it with his son at the end of his NBL career, Verle Willams Senior and Junior were able to do it in what is now the NBL1 North too going back a bit, but it's not something that happens often.

That's why Lamar will always treasure it and he hopes that no matter what Zaiden goes on to achieve in his career, that he will too.

"It's not a common thing in our sport and it helps that I had him at a young age to make it possible, but just being able to get on the same level and be on the court together is amazing," Lamar said.

"Obviously you've got LeBron and Bronny doing it so it can be done, so for us to be able to this is really special.

"Who knows what the future holds but it's good to have these moments and I'm hoping he'll go off to college soon so who knows how much time we have while I'm playing to actually share the court together. So it's good to have the chance to make these memories."

Still playing at such a high level

Given Lamar's history of hamstring problems, it was hanging by a thread and it was only a matter of time before it gave way on him even when he started NBL26 at the Brisbane Bullets

However, the former two-time All-NBL Team member still showed that belonged at the level early last season with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Illawarra Hawks, and 20 points and six boards against the New Zealand Breakers.

But then the hamstring gave way and while the surgery might not have been necessary, it would have left him vulnerable to further injuries every time he stepped back on a basketball court.

So instead Lamar opted for the surgery and while that meant his NBL season was over and it would be a long recovery process, it should now leave his hamstring as strong as he's ever been and he can now play with full faith that his body is going to hold up NBL or NBL1 level.

And Lamar has now delivered on that with 21.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists this season with Ipswich heading into Saturday night's semi-final.

"I definitely feel good and I feel like I'm still working my way back coming off that injury and the hamstring surgery I had," Lamar said.

"It was a rollercoaster up and down battle just trying to get the hammy to feel strong again in the midst of playing this season.

"So I couldn’t really attack recovery the way I wanted to because I wanted to be playing the games and be a part of the team and stuff like that.

"So that did slow down the process a little bit, but now it's fully strong and feels good and the main focus is straight game fitness and trying to stack some wins together for us and hopefully we can take this thing the whole ways."

Still having plenty left to offer

Lamar's immediate focus is now finishing this NBL1 North season strongly with Ipswich, but beyond that he has no doubt he has plenty of top-level basketball left in him.

He's open to offers anywhere and if nothing concrete eventuates in terms of a full roster spot somewhere that he likes the sound of, a similar injury replacement role to what he had in NBL26 at the Bullets is something he'd consider.

There's also the prospect he soon will get his citizenship and then if he can be counted as a local, you'd have to think NBL clubs would be queuing up to snaffle him up.

"I'm still just trying to figure that all out and honestly I still believe I can contribute at the NBL level and I showed that last year when I was allowed to," Lamar said.

"It was something that I knew in myself but I also had to prove to myself as well as to others that I was able to still play at that level.

"As far as the future, we'll see what happens and I'm looking for a full spot somewhere right now at this moment whether it's overseas or something like that.

"That would be the first thing that I try to consider, but if all else fails and I get offered another injury replacement spot, I'd consider that because I still would get to train every day and be in the team environment.

"That's something you never take for granted so I would definitely still take that role but I would like something that lets me play a little bit more and I'm also hoping that my citizenship comes through at some point this NBL season so that might open up some things too."