Sea Eagle Quinn wants long Aussie career

Featured image: @Damianclarkshoots

Josh Duach, Jesse Edwards and David Johnson gave playing in Australia the highest recommendation as did his honeymooning parents, and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles NBL1 East star Quinn Slazinski could see it being where he plays out his whole career.

Whether it was from college teammates who had played in both the NBL and NBL1 or his parents who had a trip they never forgot to celebrate getting married, Slazinski had only heard the best things about Australia both in terms of basketball and a place to live.

So following his college career that started at the University of Louisville and finished at West Virginia with a stint at Iona College in between, Slazinski had a stint in the G League and by 2026, he felt there would never be a better time to try playing internationally.

>> EAST WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 2

>> EAST SPOTLIGHT | CASSIDY THE HERO IN MAKER'S CRUSADERS DEBUT

>> EAST SPOTLIGHT | YOUNG GUN SHINES IN BEARS HOME WIN

>> EAST SPOTLIGHT | SLAZINSKI FIRES SEA EAGLES TO BIG WIN

>> NEWLY MARRIED STEWART EMBRACING LIFE IN THE EAST

Not only is Australia now his proper first stop overseas, he sees no reason it couldn’t be his long-term basketball home just like so many imports have done before him.

Slazinski has made an immediate impact in the NBL1 East with the Sea Eagles with 24.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals across the first three games of which they have won two.

He isn’t afraid to lay out that his goals are to make the leap to play in the NBL at some point. He had no doubt the NBL1 would give him the best opportunity to do that while helping his team win trumps any other immediate goals.

"Initially my goal was to try and play NBL so this is the off-season for a lot of basketball across the world and I'm not afraid to let it be known that my goal is to play in the NBL," Slazinski said.

"That is what I want to do and I've been following it for years, and have some friends playing in it and they absolutely love it with the game, the style and the way you're in an English country and it feels like you're living in an extension of America in a lot of ways.

"I'm definitely trying to do whatever I can to make that happen so I'm just here at Manly trying to help do whatever I can to help my team win, and then see if you can get noticed.

"If you're on a winning team, that can take care of the rest so I want to come out here and prove to NBL teams that I can help my team win at this level above everything else.

"That would be my ultimate goal and it's something I'm definitely working forward to and I hope I've still got 10 more years of playing ahead of me, so it's not the be all and end all either.

"If I was able to do the rest of it in the NBL, you can sign me up today and I'd take that for sure."

Embracing Australian style of basketball

Slazinski had heard nothing but the best things about the basketball in Australia whether it's from former college teammates like Duach, Johnson and Edwards, or from what he'd seen with those from Australia who are now shining in the NBA.

But he still didn’t exactly know what to expect when he arrived at Manly Warringah for this NBL1 East, and what he's found has blown him away.

The skill sets of his teammates, the way they go about playing basketball and then the style of the play have all surpassed any expectations he had, and he has found it all suits his game perfectly too.

"I absolutely love the basketball and it reminds me of the conference I initially played in at college and that's the ACC," Slazinski said.

"It's east coast basketball where it's a lot of fluid basketball players and a lot of skilled basketball players. The Australian basketballers that are coming over to America are all ginormous and they can all pass, dribble and shoot like Josh Giddey and guys like that.

"I really appreciated that and it's not like you're playing in a league in Serbia where you're getting beaten up and there's not too much plays, but I've absolutely loved the style here.

"It's kinda like a soft mixture of American basketball as well with the best parts of that where it's free-flowing offence and the new generation of basketball.

"But I'm really surprised that to come across the other side of the world how skilled my teammates are and they might have grown up learning some different techniques growing up.

"So it's been really nice to experience something new and different, and I've kinda built my bread and butter in America on the pump fake, taking the charge and those small things like that seem to be even more appreciated out here.

"It feels like an ideal spot for me to play with the skill set I have so this feels like the spot that I and a lot of Americans want to be at, and it also gets you in the eyes of NBL organisations."

Couldn’t have found a better spot

While the basketball has blown Slazinski away already three games into his time in the NBL1, when you throw in that he's living not far from some of the best beaches in the world and he's pinching himself that he's not living a dream.

"I've just been enjoying the absolute every single part of Australia so far," Slazinski said.

"I've been fortunate enough to be part of a team too where we get along so well even though I've only been here for the past couple of months.

"Just having my teammates and their families included in everything like Easter dinner and inviting me over on the weekends so I've been able to really get comfortable here in Manly.

"I have a coach who I've been in contact even for months before I got here and we started off with a great relationship before I got here, and then since I've been here they've been able to give me everything that I need to succeed.

"I'm also in pretty much the most beautiful part of the world so the vibes are high and I'm enjoying every single bit of it, and my teammates have been phenomenal for me."

How move down under came about

Once Slazinski decided it was time to branch out from playing in the United States after only a total of 35 minutes in his stint in the G League in 2024/25 between the Raptors 905 and Wisconsin Herd, it was time to decide where to go.

A stint in Portugal didn’t quite go to plan either with two games for 26 minutes, but then it soon became obvious who should just listen to what so many people were telling him and take his talents to Australia.

"I had such a long college career and I had always wanted to play professionally and travel the world, I just didn’t know where that could be," Slazinski said.

"I have a couple of really close friends that have been able to play in Australia and everyone has told them the same thing as well as my parents taking their honeymoon here that Australia is just an absolute amazing place to be.

"I was gifted an opportunity to play in the NBA G League and I wanted to give that a try and I was able to do that, and it was a good experience even though I didn’t get too much opportunity on the court.

"So I just wanted to go somewhere and play ball and it doesn’t have to be in the big, old NBA. I was trying to find a spot where I could succeed and I found out about this league through a teammate I had in New York City playing at Iona, Josh Duach.

"He has been telling me to get out here the past couple of years so for so many reasons I felt like it was a home run set to give it a try.

"Then to go even further, I didn’t even know what Manly was or what the Northern Beaches were until I got here, but I definitely found a good spot and a good footing, and also knowledgeable teammates and coaches on the basketball side.

"I worked my way to get to the spot and then an opportunity like this kinda fell into my lap and feel like I've got really, really lucky with that."

Australia came with highest recommendation

Not only had Slazinski's former college teammates Duach (Iona), Johnson (Louisville) and Edwards (West Virginia) given Australian basketball the highest of recommendation, he'd heard his whole life of how much his parents enjoyed their honeymoon down under.

So given the G League hadn’t quite offered him the chance to shine he hoped, he knew he wanted to play overseas now and couldn't think of anywhere better than Australia.

"They did every single major city in Australia and they have a funny story where when they were on the Great Barrier Reef they went scuba diving and my mum is so scared of sharks," Slazinski said.

"They looked out into the deep blue and she was dragging my dad's facemask up out of the water because she was so scared to go down there, but they all loved it and enjoyed it apart from that.

"Then obviously my best friend is David Johnson and he just got finished playing in Tasmania and my old roommate at West Virginia was Jesse Edwards and he loved his time in Melbourne.

"Every time I talked to them about it they couldn’t say enough great things about the country so I didn’t hear any bad things about it so I thought I'd give it a try. And so far, they all seem to be right."

Family coming out to visit

Given his parents have such fond memories of when they came to Australia for their honeymoon, they haven't needed much convincing to come out to watch their son play in Manly either.

His older brother and sister want to jump on for the ride too and he can't wait for them to all come out and enjoy the experience he's now living.

"We've got a couple of back-to-back home games coming up and they are definitely going to try and get out here," Slazinski said.

"I definitely want them to see a couple of our home games and they loved it when they came here before so they definitely want to come back.

"It's not quite as easy a trip to make like when I was playing in Wisconsin, but they're gonna suit their bags and come out here. I've got an older brother and sister as well so we are trying to set it up for them all to come out here for sure."