Dash Daniels Is Plus-27 in 3 Straight Phoenix Losses, and the Phoenix Are Minus-57 Without Him

Photo: NBL.com.au. Dash Daniels in South East Melbourne Phoenix uniform, official NBL.com.au player photo. Card design: The Dyme.

South East Melbourne has lost three straight. Tasmania beat the Phoenix by 9 on Nov. 1, Sydney beat them by 11 on Nov. 8 and Illawarra beat them by 10 on Wednesday. Dash Daniels finished plus-16, plus-6 and plus-5 in those games, per ESPN's box scores. That is plus-27 in 82 minutes. In the roughly 38 minutes he sat, the Phoenix were outscored by 57 (by our count).

Three games of plus-minus prove very little on their own. The NBADraft.net consensus mock, updated Nov. 7, has Daniels at No. 29. What Daniels has built is a small, specific case: in all three losses, the Phoenix were better with him on the floor than off it.

Dash Daniels, South East Melbourne: 34 Points, 14 of 27, Plus-27

Wednesday at the State Basketball Centre was his best scoring night of the three. Daniels started, played 26 minutes and scored 17 on 7 of 11 shooting, 3 of 7 from three, with three rebounds, two assists and one turnover. Illawarra scored 71 in the first half and won 120-110. The Phoenix were minus-10 for the night and plus-5 with Daniels on the court.

Sunday in Sydney was the grind. He played 33 minutes, his most of the three, and shot 4 of 12 with 10 points, six rebounds and five turnovers. He was still plus-6 in an 11-point loss. NBL.com.au's game report had the Phoenix up 30-9 early on seven threes, with Daniels 2 of 2 from deep in the first quarter.

Add the Tasmania game and the three-game line is 34 points on 14 of 27 from the field and 6 of 12 from three (by our count). The club has since parted ways with import guard Skylar Mays, per NBL.com.au. Mays was minus-27 in 11 minutes in Sydney. The Phoenix are now 4-8.

The Phoenix play at Melbourne United on Saturday.

Stefan Joksimovic, Baskonia: No. 2 on One Board, 2 of 9 on the Floor

ESPN's Jeremy Woo opened the college season with a 2027 big board that put Joksimovic second, behind only Kansas freshman Tyran Stokes, per Bleacher Report's Nov. 5 rundown. Jonathan Wasserman's Bleacher Report mock has him sixth. The NBADraft.net consensus mock has him seventh. Three boards, three answers, and all of them in the top 10.

On Nov. 5, the day Bleacher Report ran Woo's list, Joksimovic started at Fenerbahce in EuroLeague Round 10. He played 21:53 and scored 7 on 2 of 9 shooting, 1 of 4 from three and 2 of 4 at the line, with four rebounds and one turnover. Baskonia lost 84-65. The EuroLeague's own recap called it Baskonia's lowest scoring night of the season. Joksimovic was plus-5 on BasketPlayer's box, the only Baskonia starter on the positive side.

The shot is the hold-up. Over his last two games he is 1 of 8 from three, and in the nine EuroLeague games he has played he is 6 of 23 from deep with 49 points, per Basketnews' game log (by our count). Last week's Wasserman write-up named exactly that risk: "finding consistency from three." A No. 2 ranking is a bet that the size and the handle win out before the jumper decides it for him.

Baskonia is 1-9. The club plays at Partizan in Belgrade on Wednesday night, 20:45 CET.

Hugo Yimga-Moukouri and Klark Riethauser: Two Consensus First-Rounders, One Game, One Bench

Nanterre beat Chalon 93-81 on Nov. 7. On paper, that game had two first-round picks in it. NBADraft.net's consensus mock lists Swiss wing Klark Riethauser at No. 19 and Nanterre's Yimga-Moukouri at No. 20.

Only one of them played. Yimga-Moukouri started, logged 18:32 and finished with 5 points on 2 of 6 shooting, 1 of 4 from three, with five rebounds and two steals. That was a quiet night by his standard. Nanterre's club page has him at 10.1 points across seven Betclic Élite games, and BasketEurope reported he was named the league's best young player for October.

Riethauser has been sidelined since before the Betclic Élite opener. Chalon's Sept. 26 medical update said the hematoma from a thigh contusion he took in Germany had not cleared. Watson reported that Chalon signed Jacob Grandison as a medical replacement through the end of 2026, which is when the 18-year-old was expected back. Grandison played 15 minutes against Nanterre.

That is the strange part of the No. 19 slot. A board is ranking a player who signed his first pro deal in June, turned down NCAA interest to do it, and has been injured since before the season began. Every game Chalon plays without him is a game scouts can't use.

Nanterre plays at Rytas Vilnius in the Basketball Champions League on Wednesday.

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By our count: Daniels' three games are Nov. 1 at home to Tasmania (23 minutes, plus-16, 98-89 loss), Nov. 8 at Sydney (33 minutes, plus-6, 110-99 loss) and Nov. 11 at home to Illawarra (26 minutes, plus-5, 120-110 loss). The Phoenix were minus-30 over 120 minutes and plus-27 in his 82, so minus-57 in the other 38. ESPN rounds minutes to the whole minute, so the 38 is approximate. Shooting: 3 of 4, 4 of 12 and 7 of 11 is 14 of 27; 1 of 1, 2 of 4 and 3 of 7 is 6 of 12; 7, 10 and 17 is 34 points. Joksimovic's season comes from Basketnews' EuroLeague log: 7, 9, 12, 13, 0, 6, 0, 2 and 0 points is 49, and his three-point lines add to 6 of 23. His last two games are 0 of 4 at ASVEL and 1 of 4 at Fenerbahce.

Sources

• ESPN box score, Hawks 120-110 Phoenix (Nov. 11)
• ESPN box score, Kings 110-99 Phoenix (Nov. 8)
• ESPN box score, JackJumpers 98-89 Phoenix (Nov. 1)
• NBL.com.au, Doyle, Martin help Hawks soar over Phoenix (AAP)
• NBL.com.au, Kings respond after stunning Phoenix start (AAP)
• NBADraft.net consensus 2027 mock
• Bleacher Report, Tyran Stokes, Stefan Joksimovic top ESPN's new 2027 big board (Nov. 5)
• Bleacher Report, Jonathan Wasserman, 2027 mock draft (Nov. 3)
• EuroLeague, Fenerbahce flattens Baskonia (Round 10)
• BasketPlayer box score, Fenerbahce 84-65 Baskonia
• RealGM box score, Baskonia at Fenerbahce
• EuroLeague, Game Notes: Partizan vs. Baskonia (Round 11)
• Basketnews, Stefan Joksimovic EuroLeague game log
• RealGM box score, Chalon at Nanterre 92 (Nov. 7)
• Nanterre 92, Nanterre conserve son invincibilité à domicile (Nov. 9)
• Nanterre 92, Hugo Yimga-Moukouri player page
• BasketEurope, Yimga-Moukouri best young player of October
• Elan Chalon, medical update (Sept. 26)
• Watson, Riethauser injury and Grandison signing (Oct. 1)