Preview: NBL26 R15 Home v Perth Wildcats

The Brisbane Bullets are back home at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for the first NBL game of 2026 when they host the Perth Wildcats on New Year's Day looking for a bounce back performance.

The Bullets are in the middle of a hectic current schedule under interim coach Darryl McDonald that dates back to the last time they played Wildcats.

That was back on December 14 also at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in what turned out to be the last game in charge for Stu Lash with the Wildcats defeating the Bullets by 24 points.

Brisbane have now played four games since with McDonald at the helm for a drought breaking win against the New Zealand Breakers either side of losses to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Melbourne United and Sydney Kings.

They are three of the top four teams in the NBL so the Bullets have been up against it with those four games having all been played in the space of 11 days and by the time they play on New Year's Day, they will have played five matches in 13 days.

Opposed to that, the 'Cats arrive in Brisbane to play a fourth game since that last visit to the River City back on December 14.

Since that last meeting, the Wildcats scored a win on the road against the Tasmania JackJumpers but have suffered losses at home to South East Melbourne and more recently away to the Adelaide 36ers back on Sunday.

That means the 'Cats come into the clash with an 11-10 record and in fifth position on the NBL standings while the Bullets sit on a 6-16 record but still within striking distance of the sixth placed JackJumpers who are now 10-13 following a loss on New Year's Eve.

Coming off back-to-back home games where the Bullets broke a seven-game losing streak by beating the Breakers and then suffering a narrow loss to Melbourne, it was a tough outing against the Kings in Sydney back on Tuesday night with the 25-point defeat.

The Bullets went into that game without Taine Murray and then lost Alex Ducas in the first half with a toe injury as well while also still without newly signed injury replacement import Hunter Maldonado.

Murray will still be out for the clash with the Wildcats on New Year's Day while Ducas will be a game time decision, but McDonald will be desperately hoping Maldonado will be available to provide some much needed playmaking and ball carrying support to captain Mitch Norton.

"We found out at about 6 o'clock (on Tuesday in Sydney) that he couldn’t play and to be honest, I have no idea what it is, it's a whole bunch of issues with visas, clearances and it's a bunch of stuff," McDonald said.

"But our guys back home, they're working tirelessly trying to get it done and I would have loved to have him out there, but we back up and have Perth coming up on Thursday so it don't get no easier.

"I hope he's right to play in that game, I'm praying and I hope he is seriously because it's dragging out a bit. Our guy Steve, I'm hitting him up every day to give me something and I think he's getting tired of hearing from me but we're trying to get him over the line and we could use another guard.

"We're running out of players and even when we were down 30, I had to put Javon back in because Norto's cook and he's our import, and both our imports struggled tonight and they need to get better."

As for Ducas, he did try to play through the toe injury in the game in Sydney on Tuesday night and McDonald is hoping that the NBA championship winner will be able to get up to play against the Wildcats on Thursday.

"He did it the other day and he got up to play after he had an MRI and all that, and they said he would be able to play with the toe and it was just about playing through some pain," McDonald said.

"But when you're down 30, they pretty much said he was done but I'm hoping he can get up for the Perth game."

GAME INFO

Who: Brisbane Bullets vs Perth Wildcats

Tip off: 6:30pm (AEST), Thursday 1 January, 2026

Where: Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Tickets: Available Here

Watch: ESPN via Foxtel, Disney+, Kayo and Fetch