Bye bye Boomers: Chima Moneke may never play in NBL

Moneke was released by the South East Melbourne Phoenix given he would not be able to gain Australian local player status by the beginning of pre-season on July 1.

He had spent the majority of his life in Australia after moving down under at the age of two, but that would not be enough for him to secure a deal without being an import player.

The 23-year-old holds a Nigerian passport and signed in the hope the NBL expansion franchise "would be able to make something happen in terms of letting me play as a local".

"A few months later I started hearing I'm going to need to actually have my paperwork with me. We tried to make that happen as soon as possible but it didn't work out, so I can't play as a local," Moneke said.

Now the emerging forward will stay in Europe and set his sights on playing for Nigeria at the Olympic Games despite Australia being in a position to win medals in the near future.

Moneke admits the prospect of pushing for Boomers selection down the line was tempting but he will likely pledge his allegiance to his country of birth.

"I definitely want to play in the Olympics, but I think at this point it would just make sense for me to play for Nigeria, if I ever do play," Moneke said.

"Australia has a lot of talent, they'll be set with their personnel and who they're going to use. Playing for Nigeria might make more sense for me now.

"I would have get my citizenship if I am ever going to play as a local [in the NBL], obviously. At this point I'm just going to focus on playing over here until I play in the NBA."

The Canberra product quickly shot down any talk of being included on the Phoenix's training roster, adamant there is more on offer for him abroad.

Moneke says he had initially signed with South East Melbourne for less money than he could have earned overseas, with the trade-off being he would be able to play at home in Australia.

He signed in December at a time even he concedes he "wasn't playing too well" - but business began to pick up after Moneke linked up with Denain Voltaire in the French Pro B League.

With that season coming to a close Moneke is confident he will find a new club in Europe to continue plying his trade away from home with the end goal of signing an NBA contract.

"I played myself, I believe, into making more money than I would have gotten at South East," Moneke said.

"It works out for me individually, because I will be able to stay at a team over here, whatever country it is, whatever country we decide, and I'll be able to make more money.

"Obviously it's disappointing because I told so many people and a lot of people were excited about me coming back to Australia. But I was going to take less money to play in Australia because I wanted to, but now I'm just going to continue to build my career over here.

"I don't know if I'll ever play in the NBL now, I'll keep playing over here and keep making money over here. I'll keep trying to grind to get to the NBA over here."

And when it comes to South East Melbourne?

"We still have a good relationship with them, whenever I'm in Melbourne I'll work out with them, stay in shape with them and continue to get better with them," Moneke said.