Jason Cadee

Jason Cadee (born 15 April 1991) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL).

Cadee was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Greenacre. He attended Westfields Sports High School in the nearby suburb of Fairfield West. He graduated from Westfields, a sports dedicated school, in 2008 and was later named in the school's Hall of Fame.

Cadee began playing for the Bankstown Bruins men's team in the Waratah League during 2008, making four appearances and scoring seven points. The following year, he moved to Canberra to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and play for the program's SEABL team. Over 18 games for the AIS in 2009 and 2010, he averaged 12 points per game. He also played 10 games for Bankstown in 2010, and with a 20.5-point-per-game average, he was named the Waratah League's Australian U/21 Youth Player of the Year and earned All-Star Five honours.

On 10 April 2010, Cadee participated in the Nike Hoop Summit for the World Select Team where he recorded seven points, three rebounds and three assists in a 101–97 loss to the USA Junior Select Team.

Cadee also played for the Australian U19 national team at the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, where in nine games, he averaged 9.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per name.

On 29 April 2010, Cadee signed a two-year deal with the Gold Coast Blaze of the National Basketball League. However, just two months after signing with the Blaze, Cadee was involved in a car accident on Sydney's M7 Motorway. A semi-trailer had veered out of its lane and pushed him off the road. His car went into a spin and parked itself at right angles across one of Sydney's busiest highways. In an instant, Cadee was crumpled against the middle console of the car. After being trapped for 90 minutes, somehow, he escaped with just a broken pelvis. This broken pelvis, however, delayed his NBL debut and forced him out of the 2010 Australian Boomers squad.

On 17 December 2010, Cadee made his long-awaited debut for the Blaze, scoring 11 points in 16 minutes off the bench in a 93–81 win over the Townsville Crocodiles.

On 15 May 2012, Cadee signed a two-year deal with the Adelaide 36ers. After the 36ers finished on the bottom of the ladder in 2012–13 with an 8–20 record (a season that included a club record eight-game losing streak), coach Marty Clarke was replaced with former Brisbane Bullets championship-winning coach, and Cadee's former mentor at the Blaze, Joey Wright. Under Wright, the 36ers turned their fortunes around and finished the 2013–14 regular season in second place behind the Perth Wildcats with an 18–10 record. They then went on to defeat the Melbourne Tigers 2–1 in the semi-finals before going down 2–1 to Perth in the Grand Final series. Cadee played in 61 games for Adelaide over two years, averaging 6.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

On 25 April 2014, Cadee signed with the Super City Rangers for the rest of the 2014 New Zealand NBL season. He made his debut for the Rangers the following day, scoring 20 points in 36 minutes off the bench against the Waikato Pistons. He went on to win the league's scoring title with a 26.7-point-per-game average and earned All-Star Five honours.

On 27 May 2014, Cadee signed a two-year deal with the Sydney Kings. He appeared in all 28 games for the Kings in 2014–15, averaging 8.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

On 24 January 2015, Cadee re-signed with Super City Rangers for the 2015 New Zealand NBL season. On 17 April 2015, he set a franchise record with 41 points against the Manawatu Jets, and tied a NZNBL record with nine made three-pointers in a 115–94 win.

On 20 May 2015, Cadee signed a new one-year deal with the Sydney Kings. On 16 December 2015, he scored a career-high 28 points in a 96–81 win over Melbourne United. He appeared in all 28 games for the Kings in 2015–16, averaging 14.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, all career highs.

On 8 April 2016, Cadee re-signed with the Kings on a two-year deal.

Off-season stints

During the 2011 and 2012 NBL off-seasons, Cadee played in the Waratah League for the Bankstown Bruins. After a season with the West Adelaide Bearcats in 2013, Cadee returned to the Bruins in 2014 following his stint with the Super City Rangers. He did not play for Bankstown in 2015, choosing instead to rest following his second stint with the Rangers. In 2016, he re-joined the Bruins and helped them win the Waratah League championship.

In July 2012, Cadee was named in the 2012 Australian Stanković Cup squad. The Boomers went on to finish in second place and Cadee was named in the tournament's All-Star Five.

In June 2013, Cadee was named in the Boomers' Sino-Australia Challenge squad to take on China in a four-game series. Australia went on to draw the series with China 2–2. Later that month, he was named in the Australian squad for the 2013 Stanković Cup and the World University Games. Australia went on to win gold and silver, respectively. Cadee then narrowly missed out on the Boomers squad for the 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship against New Zealand.

Cadee has a strong basketball family. His mother, Debbie (née Lee), played for the Australian Opals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and his father, Robbie, played for the Boomers at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, and later coached the Opals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Robbie is also a former CEO of the now defunct NBL team, the Western Sydney Razorbacks.