You probably had to be behind the scenes in the build-up to see just how much it meant to indigenous communities far beyond the Illawarra.

Club owner Simon Stratford got another major thing right, making sure Patty Mills and Nate Jawai received jerseys. Mills showcased it to the world after San Antonio’s clash with the Lakers last week, bringing the Hawks – and the NBL – global exposure.

It also saw many people wonder aloud why it hasn’t already happened before on a league-wide scale? It certainly seemed long overdue given what all other sports have done on indigenous recognition. 

People also wondered more privately why the NBL wasn’t doing more to promote the Hawks initiative. So,when a media release dropped in our inbox on Thursday entitled: ‘NBL to celebrate indigenous history’, it raised an eyebrow.

The contents of the email recognising the great indigenous players who’ve graced the league was all well and good. It was also pushed on the league’s social media platforms.

However, let’s make it perfectly clear, this was a club initiative Illawarra undertook off it’s own bat. Tyson Demos had been pushing for an Indigenous Round for years. 

The club wasn’t going to stomp its feet and say as much, but Mills was happy to do so on Twitter, tweeting: 

“NBL to celebrate Indigenous history”??? Just to clarify, this is @illawarrahawks initiative and they are super proud of it.” 

He wasn’t done, also tweeting in response to (since deleted) screenshots of the media release:

“Screen shots of the media release is cool but I was talking about the @NBL taking charge of an entire round. Both @NRL and @AFL are great examples, now it’s basketball’s turn because it’s long overdue.” 

He had a bit more to say in retweeting a tweet from Jawai expressing his gratitude at receiving his jersey.

“Well that’s a little embarrassing for the league but unreal by @illarwarrahawks. You guys have gone above and beyond to make this significant event special for Indigenous Australia. Even made a jersey for @natejawai and he plays for the other team [👏🏾]” 

No one is more entitled to an opinion on the issue than Mills, he’s a proud indigenous man and already an all-time great in the sport. His comments were all spot on.

A league-wide Indigenous Round now seems fait accompli, probably as early as next season. Lets hope those at NBL HQ remember where the credit should lie and keep it well in mind when it comes scheduling future Indigenous Rounds.

It would be grossly unfair, for example, if the Hawks end up playing somewhere on the road while a Sydney-Perth or Perth-Melbourne clash took pride of place.

Mills said it best, it’s a Hawks initiative. The club should be able to bank on hosting it’s local derby against the Kings in all future Indigenous Rounds.

The NBL has got a lot more right than wrong in recent seasons. Let’s hope it gets this right going forward. 

GAZE RIGHT ON BOARD WITH CONCEPT

Still on Indigenous Round, you have to admire the passion in Sydney Kings coach Andrew Gaze’s answer when asked about it on Sunday.

It seemed a fairly standard question to ask of an away coach, which often get fairly standard answers. If you’ve ever been in a Gaze presser though, you’ll know standard answers are not his go.

“I love it, I absolutely love it,” he said.

“It is a privilege of playing the game that we can be part of a process to educate. To share in this and what Illawarra have done to create that awareness… thank goodness it was against us.

“I think it’s an unbelievable initiative. When you think of what many of our indigenous communities go through, and look at the privileges we have as a sport, it provides a really good perspective.

“Through these games, if we can educate ourselves a little bit on some of the challenges, that in this society we should be very concerned about, to say we as a nation need to do better.

“These type of things can help us get better and that’s a good situation.” 

Rob Beveridge had a similar take.

“I’m super proud of what we’ve done,” he said.

“I was honoured and privileged to be a part of this game and I’ll look back my career down the track and and say I was there the night we opened some doors for the NBL.”