Inside Jaylin Galloway’s NBA ‘shock’… and ‘tough’ road back to MVP statement

Playing in the NBA has “always” been the dream for Jaylin Galloway since he was a kid.

So, when he was signed by the Milwaukee Bucks to a two-way contract in March 2024, the hope was this would be just the start for the two-time NBL championship winner.

Instead, he lasted just five months in the G League before being waived and came back a “broken” man — both physically and mentally.

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Kings coach Brian Goorjian could see it in Galloway when he walked into training for the first time since returning. He was “underdone”, as Goorjian put it.

“You just looked at his body and you could tell if it was just a guy that hasn’t been grinding,” the six-time NBL championship-winning coach told foxsports.com.au.

Then there was the mental side of coming to terms with the fact that his NBA dream seemed so close and yet, at least in that moment, was instead so far away.

Specifically, Goorjian said there was “a lot of confusion”.

“Not a lot of talk on what they want from him,” the Kings coach added.

“It’s kind of, ‘Here you go. Sink or swim’, and he never really got on track. That was the feeling I got from him and then as he came in, then there was a third aspect of it.”

You see, Galloway wasn’t expecting to be back with the Kings so soon. They weren’t expecting, or at least weren’t planning, for him to be part of the team then either.

So, when Galloway returned to Sydney on a new three-year deal before the 2024-25 season, Goorjian had already put together a team and gameplan that didn’t include the 22-year-old.

“So, there was an uncomfort (sic) to the whole thing,” Goorjian added.

“What was agreed to is just, ‘You’re going to play, and we’re going to get you in this and we’re going to slowly work your way back to where you need to be because you’re a bit broken’.”

But like his time in Milwaukee, Galloway’s NBL comeback was short-lived as in late November he went undergone shoulder surgery and was ruled out for the season.

It was just the latest setback in what Goorjian described as an “unfortunate” year for Galloway, although the Kings forward said the additional time away from the court ended up being a “blessing in disguise”.

“I was already having shoulder problems before,” Galloway said.

“It kept on popping out before then and I think that injury was the final straw, so I wasn’t too mad about it.

“I more wanted it to be fixed because it was messing with my mental side of things. I wasn’t playing the defence I wanted to because of my shoulder.”

It also gave him a mental reset before an NBL1 stint with the Bankstown Bruins and offseason spent training with Kings teammate Xavier Cooks set him up for a breakout Asia Cup tournament with the Boomers.

“I knew he was going to dominate,” Cooks, who has known Galloway for six years, told foxsports.com.au.

Now, finally healthy and in career-best form, Galloway is ready to make up for lost time with the Kings and put himself back on the path to the NBA, while proving a few people wrong along the way.

“I’m just waiting for the season to start so I can show everybody,” Galloway told foxsports.com.au.

“That’s all I’ve got to say.”

‘WHAT HAPPENED?’ COMING OUT OF THE NBA ‘SHOCKED AND CONFUSED’

It felt like Galloway had more to say. But he wants to let his play on the court do the talking. He already did just that at the Asia Cup, leading the Boomers to a three-peat and winning tournament MVP. Although it wasn’t as if Galloway needed to remind anyone he could play to that kind of level.

After all, he may not have played in the NBA with the Bucks but earning a two-way deal is an achievement in itself while Galloway had already proven himself in the NBL well before that point as a key role player on a championship-winning team.

But considering the way things ended in Milwaukee and the amount of time he had spent away from the spotlight after sitting out the majority of last season, this was a chance for Galloway to re-establish himself — both on the international stage and, potentially, as a name to monitor in and around the NBA.

Galloway said the experience over in the States was “definitely tough”. But he is still grateful.

Grateful for the lessons he learned, the “biggest” of which he said was from none other than Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

Their professionalism. The way they took care of their bodies and put such an emphasis on recovery. Galloway said it is a similar in a way to his new Kings teammate Matthew Dellavedova, which is hardly surprising given the successful NBA career he carved out.

He also learned not to compare himself to other players. That everyone is on their own, individual journey.

“I think that’s the biggest thing,” Galloway said.

“I realised comparing yourself to other people and not saying, ‘Why am I not in that position?’ Just sticking to your grind and then eventually it will pay off.”

As for how it all ended in Milwaukee, Galloway said he “took it as disrespect to be honest”.

Goorjian, who Galloway credited for helping him deal with the disappointment of being waived, said the 22-year-old “looked confused” when he returned to the Kings.

“I’ve been here a while and I’ve had guys go there to the America and you go to the Summer League and there’s not a lot of communication and it’s not a team environment,” Goorjian said.

“It’s like, ‘I want that job and you’re on my team but you’re in my way’. Australians are very much teamship and camaraderie and all that. That’s like a part of basketball here, where if you don’t have it you can’t, including the Boomers.

“He came out of it shocked and confused like, ‘What happened?’”

Cooks, who was signed by the Washington Wizards in March 2023 to a four-year deal before being cut later that year in October, said Galloway wasn’t so much “lacking confidence” when he came back from America.

“But his first time being waived and going through that is always a tough thing,” Cooks added.

“You kind of second guess yourself for a little while.

“I haven’t done the whole G-League route but I’ve heard it’s an absolute grind. It’s not really glorious at all. Especially being over there, you’re really by yourself, you get really isolated and it really tests your love for basketball.”

There was always a chance even more time away could have further distanced Galloway from the sport he loved. But instead, the shoulder surgery gave him six months to reset and “almost gain that love for basketball again” according to Cooks.

“When basketball is kind of taken away from you for a little while, you really get that sense of love back for it again,” the former league MVP added.

Goorjian, meanwhile, had never worked with Galloway before so he didn’t exactly know what he’d be getting when the 22-year-old returned for the 2025-26 preseason.

He knew Galloway would be healthy after the surgery, but he also knew there was so much time in the offseason where he had no control over what the Kings forward would be doing.

He had heard Galloway and Cooks were spending mornings training together.

“Talk is cheap,” Goorjian said.

But from what he heard out of Boomers camp, he knew it wasn’t just talk. This was serious.

‘GONNA KILL THESE GUYS’: WHY GALLOWAY IS PRIMED FOR A BIG SEASON

Goorjian had plenty of conversations with Galloway after the 2024-25 season wrapped up. In those, he stressed one particular message.

“You look at the league right now, we’re the only team playing in the competition with two imports,” the Kings coach explained.

“I said to JG, ‘We’re not getting the third import, you’re our third import. A mindset in this offseason of if we’re going to decide to make that commitment to you, you gotta lift it’.”

So, Galloway did just that. Not that he needed the motivation anyway, declaring he has a “point to prove this year” after all the time out injured.

To make sure he was in the best-possible shape to come good on that promise, Galloway worked out with Cooks five or six mornings a week at Auburn Basketball Centre for a couple of months.

They did an hour of weights and then 90 minutes on the court, working on things Galloway needed to touch up in his game — from using his off hand to his shooting ability.

The result of all that hard work showed at the Asia Cup, where Galloway averaged more than 14 points and three rebounds per game while hitting it at a 67 per cent clip from downtown.

Cooks called it a “proud big brother moment”, having known Galloway for six years.

“We’ve won championships together and he’s going to be a pivotal piece for us this year, so I always knew he was a special basketball player,” the Kings captain said.

“Even going over there you’d see some scouting reports, we’d see guys and my first thought was ‘JG’s gonna kill these guys’, just because of his combination of shooting ability, his athleticism, his size.

“He’s such a tough match-up, especially for people that aren’t as physically gifted as him. Going into the Asia Cup knowing what the personnel was going to be like over there, I knew he was going to dominate.”

The hope is that will now translate to Galloway’s first full season back in the NBL, although he doesn’t even have to dominate like he did at the Asia Cup to have an impact for the Kings.

That is what happens when you have not only a former NBL MVP in Cooks but two fresh faces in Dellavedova and Kendric Davis making plays and taking attention away from Galloway.

“To have a third piece or a third option like JG, he’s such a tough match-up in terms of you’ve got to have a great athlete to guard him and if he’s going to be your third option as a defender to guard him, he’s going to absolutely dominate,” Cooks said.

For Goorjian, the biggest difference with Galloway is that now opposition teams are forced to respect him more as a shooter, which brings his “explosive quickness” to the front because he no longer gets a cushion.

“And then if he gets six or seven rebounds a game with his athleticism, that’s an NBA player,” the Kings coach added.

“For him, I think there’s only a certain amount of guys in our league that are in the gene pool. He’s got the genes to play in the next level.”

And if Galloway does make it to the next level, he is confident he is in a better position now to make the most of the opportunity.

“I think it’s definitely made me more mature, made me see the game more,” Galloway said.

“I used to be a more static player, more twitchy. Now I’m slowing down more, and I think my overall IQ has gotten better over time.”

As for his ‘big brother’?

Well, Cooks said he always thought Galloway was a “special player”, which made all the praise he received after the Asia Cup all the more “well-deserved”, and should his longtime friend get another shot in the NBA Cooks is confident he will make it stick.

“I think last time he was there he was trying to sort of survive and not really trying to thrive and be the brightest star he could be,” Cooks said.

“But right now, I think next time with his confidence, the way it is right now, he’ll really excel if he gets another chance.”

The Sydney Kings tip off their 2025-26 NBL campaign on Sunday against the Cairns Taipans. You canwatch live coverage of entire season with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.