The South East Melbourne Phoenix have parted ways with import Skylar Mays, sources told ESPN.
The team informed Mays of the decision on Tuesday.
Mays' final game for the Phoenix was a loss to the Sydney Kings on Sunday, where he played less than 11 minutes and was a -27. He finished that game with two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Over 11 games over the 2026-27 NBL season, Mays averaged 11.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game, shooting 38.6% from the field and 31.5% from 3PT.
After Sunday's game, Phoenix head coach Josh King was asked about Mays' recent play, and whether there was consideration into moving on from him.
"(I just want to see) him playing better, to see him playing better and contributing to winning," King said.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be points and it's not just with him, it's with a lot of different guys too and he's the easy guy to pick on, but we need more better efforts from multiple guys.
"I think everybody knows that everybody is replaceable, including myself. This is professional sports, so it's a performance-based business that we're in at the end of the day. I mean, he's a capable basketball player and we just need him to play better."
Mays averaged just 6.0 points and 1.8 assists across his final four games.
The 29-year-old was the 50th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2020 NBA Draft out of LSU. He played 105 NBA games with the Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers, averaging 4.3 points and 1.7 assists a game. His best run came late in the 2022-23 season, where Mays signed with an injury-hit Blazers team and started all six games he played, averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 assists and shooting 46.2% from three. That stretch included a career-high 24 points against Memphis.
Before arriving in the NBL, he had stints in Europe, including with Turkish club Fenerbahçe, and in the NBA G League.
The Phoenix's next game is on Wednesday evening: a home fixture against the bottom-of-the-table Illawarra Hawks at the State Basketball Centre.