It's practically impossible to find parallels to Cole Anthony's decision to sign with Melbourne United.
Before Anthony, every player who's joined an NBL team after a flourishing NBA career has done so in the twilight of their playing days, or once the opportunities in the best basketball league in the world have well and truly dried up.
That's why Anthony's signing is so striking: here's a player who's still just 26 years old - either in or just entering his prime - coming off his sixth NBA season, and still someone widely regarded around the league as a player who can make an impact. It's unprecedented. A player of his level, at this stage of his career, rarely even considers the NBL, let alone pulls the trigger and signs.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least semi-aware of it," Anthony told ESPN, about the history he's making.
"I wanna embrace it all. Yeah, it's unprecedented to have players who are really in the prime of their career -- I was a first-round draft pick -- been in the league six years now, to just up and leave. But I felt like this was the best path for my development as a whole; as a human being, but also as a basketball player."
The one-year deal makes Anthony the highest-paid import in the NBL, sources told ESPN, and is a show of intent from United's new ownership - led by Travis Knipe - that the franchise is willing to spend up for NBA-level talent.
To put Anthony's recent play in its appropriate context, he had 26 points in a play-in game -- a win -- as a 24-year-old toward the end of the 2024-25 NBA season, which was a campaign where he also put together a 35-point, 8-rebound, 9-assist performance in December. Yes, he's coming off an up-and-down season with the Milwaukee Bucks, but is best known for spending the first five years of his NBA career with the Orlando Magic; his most productive campaign was in 2021-22, when the 6'2 combo guard averaged 16.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Over his six seasons in the NBA, Anthony has averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, while shooting 34.3% from 3PT.
Before he signed in the NBL, if you'd listed the best available NBA free agents, there's a reasonable chance Anthony -- given the level he's played at, and how recently he did so -- would have been on it.
So, why the NBL? Why make the pivot away from the NBA, if only for a moment, as the next step in his career? Is it just the fact that he played alongside fellow new United recruit Joe Ingles during his time with the Magic, or is there more to it?
"For me, I was looking at it like: this is a very well-respected league, where I can come and potentially carve a path for myself back to the NBA," Anthony said.
"It wasn't a money play. I'm blessed enough to be in a position right now where that wasn't the driving factor of this decision.
"At the same time, Joe's here, coach Jacob [Chance] is a dude who just came back from the NBA... so I can relate to him on some level with that. All things [considered] -- way of living, no language barrier, coming to a place I've always wanted to come to since I was young; I've never been -- I'm excited to get down there soon. I thought about it heavily, for a long time... and, alright, this feels right."
Anthony said United first reached out to him in early July, and his camp was glowing about the opportunity to play in the NBL.
The former first-round draft pick joins a United franchise that's in the midst of a changing of the guard -- with Chance taking over from Dean Vickerman as the team's new head coach -- with a roster stacked with top-end talent; it includes the likes of Ingles, Chris Goulding, Luke Travers, Sam Waardenburg, Shea Ili, and Josh Oduro.
"I've seen myself, these past several years, how the NBL has [grown]," Anthony said.
"You guys have had players go out there -- I know a good buddy of mine, RJ Hampton, was out there -- Joe, obviously. He's a dude for me, who, when I was on the Magic, I love this guy. He's a great teammate, but he also has a great understanding for the game of basketball.
"Ever since he got in my ear about it, it was: oh, alright, I'm listening. It's a great opportunity to go and learn from somebody who played in the league for nine or 10 years. For me, I feel like I could come in here... I'm still young, I'm 26 years old. I have a lot of learning and maturing to do. He was a guy, for me, that I can come in and learn from; soak up a lot of knowledge, soak up a lot of info about the game, and how to play. What better place to come and do that than where he's from: the beautiful city of Melbourne, and have a good time."
Anthony is regarded as an electric personality, and he reunites with Ingles, who also brings a trash-talking, outspoken element to the table.
"Pure joy and happiness," Anthony said, cheekily, when asked how he feels about teaming up with Ingles again.
"I can't wait to kick it with uncle Joe.
"He's a really high IQ basketball player, even at the tender age of pushing 40. He knows the game and he's a hooper at the end of the day. Me and him always got along, and I'm excited to just learn and soak up as much knowledge as I can from him."
Anthony joins an ever-growing crop of American-born guards -- led by Adelaide's Bryce Cotton and Sydney's Kendric Davis -- who've emerged as the faces of the NBL, and he's sure to factor into the race for the league's Most Valuable Player.
Anthony's nature will be to lean into that role, but he's also made it clear that, when he arrives in Melbourne in a week, he's endeavouring to use this opportunity with United as a steppingstone back to a legitimate role in the NBA.
"I have more maturing to do," Anthony said.
"That's why I felt like this would be a good place for me to do it. I'm still gonna have a good time, get some good weather, but I want to take that next level of becoming a consistent basketball player; being able to string along several good performance -- not great, not bad, but solid -- and continue to develop as a player.
"I'm never gonna perfect the game, but we can get close."
For a league that's spent years trying to convince NBA-calibre talent to take it seriously, Anthony's signing is the closest thing to a breakthrough. What he does with the opportunity -- and whether it gets him back to the league he just left -- is already the NBL's most intriguing subplot.