HOOPLA: Hawks returnee Kevin White still finding a way ahead of 12th NBL season

He should really know better. The now 35-year-old's never taken no for an answer in his life. His 12-year, 297-game NBL career is basically a chronic case of oppositional defiant disorder.

Deemed surplus to requirements at four clubs, including Illawarra, he's now heading into a 12^th NBL season after being picked up by the Hawks as an injury replacement player this week.

It seems the famously combative scrapper still won't hear the word.

"You're always going to get told you can't do things," White told Hoopla.

"I'm constantly saying 'no' to my kids. I think it's just how we're built, to say 'don't do this, don't do that'. I think I'm just wired a differently to say 'stuff you guys, I can do this or can do that'.

"I think it's just been built into me from my mum and dad. It's the way I was raised and I'm fortunate enough to be heading into year 12 now in the NBL.

"It's pretty crazy to think back about the journey I've taken to get where I am. I don't know what it is, I've just always found a way."

It's some journey. After reaching the end of the road with the Kings after four seasons, he was picked up by the Hawks under Rob Beveridge ahead of the 2016 season.

Read more: Hawks off to a flyer in NBL Blitz with big win over Melbourne

It was a club he would come to lead as skipper before he was again cut loose by a fresh staff when Beveridge departed at the end of 2019. A shift to Adelaide ended in messy fashion this column won't delve into before Perth coach Trevor Gleeson threw out an opportunity.

At the time Gleeson had no way of knowing he'd lose Bryce Cotton to injury prior to the playoffs, or Mitch Norton in game two of the semi-final series against the Hawks.

The even bigger surprise came in the subsequent grand final series where White, who'd averaged two points and 11 minutes through the regular season, averaged 12 and 26 across three grand final games.

It bought him a further season in the west but once that was done, so was he. The toll of long stretches away from wife Rachel and sons Quinn and Fletcher amid the country' strictest border conditions amid the COVID pandemic finally had him saying 'no more'.

Whatever the future offered, if it wasn't an easy drive from Albion Park, he wasn't interested. It left a single NBL door open, a homecoming with Illawarra, as unlikely as the prospect seemed.

"We had a pretty rough few years with my family," White said.

"My first son was born the year I first left the Hawks. We went to Adelaide and that went the way it did and I got thrown a lifeline by Trev at Perth and went there for two years.

"During COVID it was a real mess around with the borders, which was nothing to do with the NBL, nothing to do with basketball in general. It wasn't just athletes, everyone had it pretty rough those two years.

"It was draining always being away from family. I've got two young kids now and to constantly be away from them, to constantly be away from my wife, was just hard.

"Rach has always supported me, particularly the last few years allowing me to continue to play. Without her support I probably would have hung them up a couple of years ago.

"Once we were back home, it was 'you can go play for the Hawks or you can play for nobody'."

It was more hope than expectation but it's ultimately come about in unfortunate circumstances following a serious hamstring injury to Dan Grida that will sideline him for up to the first three months of the season.

"It's really unfortunate for Grida," White said.

"When he first came into the league I was his roommate and we spent a lot of time together. To see him go down again after the run he's had is really tough but it's provided the opportunity for me to come back to the place that I call home.

"I always wanted to be a Hawk, I never wanted to leave. To be around the group for another year, regardless of what capacity it will be in, is pretty special."

Read more: Coenraad keeps on keeping on after signing on for another season

Where he fits in Jacob Jackomas' roster remains to be seen, but he won't be half-arsing it, vowing to play with all the gusto that made him a fan-favourite in his previous four years in Wollongong.

"If I turn up to training every day and don't play a minute, I don't really care about that," White said.

"As I've got older people have talked to me about when retirement comes and what I'm going to miss. For me, I miss the locker room side of it, just being around the guys and doing what I can to help the group have success.

"If I can provide some guidance, whether it's one of the young DP's or whether it's Sam Froling and Tyler [Harvey] as new captains, it might take some pressure off them.

"If they need me to play I'll be ready to play too. I've been around a long time and I've found the more I've gone on in my career, the more I've learned about what I need to do to get myself ready for a game.

"As you get older you start to understand your body. That's something I learned from Dave Andersen. He'd just come in every day and do what he had to do to be right.

"Kirk Penney was very similar, he'd just come in and do what he had to do and he'd go out and get 40 [points]. I learned that along the way and I know what I need to do to get right come game day and feel confident in that."

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