Patterson proud of Bullets legacy by reaching 100

Lamar Patterson had a standout first four seasons with the Brisbane Bullets and is now proud to have banged down the door to return in NBL26 and now get to celebrate his 100-game milestone.

Patterson first joined the Bullets early in the 2018/19 NBL season and immediately fit in to the point where he was named to the All-First Team in both those NBL19 and NBL20 seasons at Brisbane.

He would end up playing another two seasons with the Bullets too up until the end of NBL22 but over the last three years, he had no idea if another NBL opportunity would open up for him.

In the meantime, he had set up his life in Brisbane with his wife, son, dog and their family home while continuing to play in the NBL1 North including at the Gold Coast Rollers, South West Metro Pirates and then the Ipswich Force of 2025.

By 2025, Patterson got himself back in just about the best shape of his life and proved how much he could still produce on the court with NBL1 North MVP winning season with Ipswich and the Bullets took notice.

He rejoined the Bullets as a Nominated Replacement Player and now has played the past four matches, and looked good back on an NBL floor, including scoring 18 points against the Illawarra Hawks, and having seven points and six assists in Wednesday night's win in Perth.

That was also his 100th game with the Bullets and that milestone will now be celebrated back at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre this Friday night against Melbourne United, and he is looking forward to it.

"I can't wait for that game on Friday and just being back out there, every game is something I'm just taking in," Patterson said.

"I don’t take that lightly still and being able to celebrate a milestone like that is special as well. My family will be there and I'll have a couple of other friends and stuff like that who will be there, so being able to celebrate that with Brisbane, I feel like I'm a local and one of theirs now.

"I'm in the community and it's definitely special to celebrate with them, and I don't take it lightly and I hope we can win as well because the city and the club deserves it. And I know I want that more than anything."

Patterson is proud to reach the 100-game mark with the Bullets because following his college career at the University of Pittsburgh, it is the club where he has left the biggest mark and with Brisbane now also where he calls home, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

"It means a lot and I was surprised because I thought I had already done it, but that included a few of those games I played with New Zealand, but I think it's great," he said.

"It's known that Brisbane is my home now and how much I value the city and everything, and the club so getting back to this point and playing 100 games for the Bullets is a big deal.

"It does help me cement myself a little bit more in history given I've been playing at this club for that long so it does mean a lot to me."

There is a strong case you can make that since the Bullets returned to the league a decade ago that Patterson has been their best performing player especially considering making the All-NBL First team on two successive occasions.

However, all he cares about now in terms of a legacy is being part of team success with the Bullets and he's willing and able to contribute to that however possible.

"Legacy is a major thing and anyone that plays any type of sport or anything you do in life really, you want to be remembered for it," Patterson said.

"So building on that means a lot and my whole goal now is trying to be part of a championship here with Brisbane. That's pretty much the only thing I still want to achieve now so being able to get that would be ideal and a major thing.

"That would cement me in the history books as one of the better imports and players to play with the Bullets especially with how tough the league is, and I think it's an open competition.

"I don’t think there's a team that's way better so I think we can still get there. And being able to have that opportunity to get the chance to add on to the legacy that I have here with the Bullets means everything to me."

No matter how much Patterson ends up playing this season with the Bullets, he has full faith in the coaching staff and the playing squad assembled that they will still be able to be successful.

Things haven’t gone to plan over the first months with the injuries to Sam McDaniel, Jacob Holt and Mitch Norton, and the departure of Javon Freeman-Liberty, and then with four of the opening five matches being away from home.

However, the Bullets pulled together in outstanding fashion in Perth on Wednesday night to score the 110-93 win against the Wildcats to show just what they are capable of when everything is clicking even against the odds.

Knowing that at some point the Bullets will be at full strength and given they have already knocked off five road matches so they have plenty of home games to look forward to in NBL26, Patterson is understandably still high on the team's prospects for the rest of this season.

"There is no doubt in the talent level here at the club and from my time here at the Bullets, this is the most well balanced roster talent-wise from top to bottom," Patterson said.

"Obviously not having Norto and SMac hasn’t helped and if you add in a bunch of other different factors, it has been a tough start.

"There have been a lot of curveballs so far and there's some pressure obviously when you have people from the outside criticising stuff, and we all see it, but you have to have the right talent and all that, but you also need a lot of luck.

"That doesn’t get spoken about as much, but teams that win championships are the healthiest team at the right team, and they get that bit of luck.

"If we have to go through our bumps and bruises in the season, this is a good time and then in the back end of the season we can just build and grow, and get that mojo so it can build into something special."