When Xavier Rathan-Mayes signed for the NBL’s Illawarra Hawks in 2021, he immediately became one of the league’s most famous players - over one hundred thousand Instagram followers, a college basketball legend, and friend and frequent collaborator with NBA trainer Jordan Lawler.
It would have made sense for the NBL to be a paycheck job for Rathan-Mayes, a pit-stop Down Under to add to an already star-studded resume.
But nearly two years later, he’s still in the country, working out in Sydney, fielding multiple NBL suitors while preparing to get married to his Australian-born fiance.
XRM is here to stay.
“I was in and around the NBA, [and] in Europe, and then my fiancee is Australian, I knew her four or five years before I came to Australia, but there was a patch in the summer where this thing became real, to be able to come to Australia,” Rathan-Mayes said.
“Obviously it was for the Illawarra Hawks and she's from Sydney, so a 45 minutes, hour drive away, it was kind of a match made in heaven.
“It was something that I prioritised because being a Canadian, [my dad is] American, when you go overseas, you're an import, there's no family, you're there by yourself in your own little bubble.
“To be able to be here and around her and around the family was really special and it gave me a dynamic of family that I didn't really have, so it was a decision that we made to come back here and to be here together and, man, now I'm buying a house in Sydney, I'm going to get married and get an Australian citizenship within hopefully two years, so it's funny how things change so quickly, but I love it, I love being here in Sydney.”
Rathan-Mayes quickly made his mark in the Australian league; his debut season with the Illawarra Hawks saw him finish runner-up in the NBL’s Best Sixth Man award, before an equally impressive sophomore year with Melbourne United.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes was the player of the game with 17pts, 11 rebs and 5 asts in Melbourne United's win over the Perth Wildcats this morning.
— Carlan Gay (@TheCarlanGay) October 14, 2022
Good to see X getting comfortable over in Australia. #NBL23pic.twitter.com/boBLnzwUlS
While the 29-year-old is yet to sign on for an NBL team in the upcoming season, it isn’t due to lack of interest, with multiple teams chasing the signature of the gifted scorer.
“There's definitely a few teams in the mix, and for me, it's just going to be all about fit, where's the best fit for myself and for my family,” Rathan-Mayes said.
“I'm at a point in my career where I want to maximise my potential, my earning potential, and we're just in a process right now of weighing options, and we probably won't decide for a few weeks, probably middle of July, somewhere around there.
“But [I’m] just being patient, I've put myself in a really good position to be able to have different options, and I'm thankful for that, I'm extremely blessed to be able to have that and Australia is always going to be home.
“I absolutely love the NBL. I love what they've done with the league. It's a growing league. Larry [Kesstleman] has done absolutely amazing things and to see its trajectory is absolutely amazing.”
One team particularly interested in the Canadian’s services is his new hometown team, the Sydney Kings, who Rathan-Mayes has been in contact with as he uses their Auburn Facility during his pre-season efforts.
“They've been great, man. They've let me in here, they've given me full access,” Rathan-Mayes said.
“They've given me the ability to come in with my people and my trainers to be able to work on the things that we've been doing today, this morning I came in, lifted in the weight room for about 45 minutes to an hour, then came out here and started going up and down for one of the first times this offseason with a few of the guys and then went through a shooting routine, a normal shooting routine that I would do every day.”
Taking him through these drills is Nay Sakya - a.k.a Breakdown Basketball - a Sydney-based basketball trainer and social media star in his own right, with over a million TikTok followers.
@breakdown_basketball Made It Look Easy 👀 #breakdownbasketball #basketball #basketballtraining #basketballtips ♬ Surround Sound Instrumental
“I had the privilege to get [Rathan-Mayes] out with me once he signed with the Illawarra Hawks, which was a great opportunity, and our friendships just blossomed. It’s been two years now, running strong, anytime in the offseason he comes back to me,” Sakya said.
“For the past two weeks, three weeks, we'll get him with some runs, little bit of touch finishes, but we're just trying to get his shot perfected to the point where there's no minor errors. So that's just the main aim.”
Rathan-Mayes has been in the eye of the basketball storm for some time now; he burst onto the scene in 2015 in a nuclear way, scoring 30 points in just four minutes and thirty-eight seconds for his college team Florida State.
But these days, his preparation looks a lot different, focusing on extending his career for as long as possible.
“Over the years it's kind of changed. When I was younger, I would have ramped right back into it and gone two, three times a day and really started preparing for next season. But this season I took three weeks off, I'm slowly getting back into it, just trying to be light on the body, make sure that my body is well taken care of. I'm trying to play until I’m 37, 40 years old, like Brad Newley,” Rathan-Mayes said.
“I've found a lot of comfort in my routine and the things that I do daily.
“This, for me, is my career, it's my life, and for me to be able to come in every single day and go through a routine that not only pushes me but keeps me grounded and really allows me to take my game to the next level has been really good.”
57 consecutive frames of @xrm_22 in beast mode for @MelbUnited vs @SydneyKings @PickandRollAU @NBL pic.twitter.com/0W1yQ2tyxE
— Michelle Couling Photography (@MCP_photos) February 7, 2023
But while Rathan-Mayes waits to rejoin the NBL, he is hoping to affect Australian basketball far beyond just the professional level.
“I come from a culture in Canada and the US where basketball is end all be all, basically, and like I said, in Australia, it's a growing culture,” Rathan-Mayes said.
“Basketball is growing, it's right up there, obviously, with the TV deals with the NBL now has been great, but [NRL] is still top of the top in Australia [as well as] AFL.
“So I would love to be able to come here and bring a little bit of that culture, bring a little bit of that excitement with basketball.
“I want to obviously do a few camps, I want to start doing some private high-level runs here for the pro athletes in Sydney, I want Sydney to be a place that the Australian pros want to come home to and they have a place to go and have high-level runs and be super competitive and do all those things.
“I think the infrastructure for Australian basketball is there and I think I'm a guy that can come in and insert myself in different ways that haven't been seen in the Australian market.”
