New recruit Almansa hits the court at Bendat
Written By
Jordan McArdle
The exciting Spanish teenager joined fellow newcomer Elijah Pepper, youngsters Ben Henshall, David Okwera, Dontae Russo-Nance, Michael Harris and others on court for the two-hour session.
The Wildcats' first and second-year players kicked off their pre-season last week.
Captain Jesse Wagstaff and New Zealander Hyrum Harris have since returned earlier than required, while several Academy talents and train-ons have also joined in.
Almansa arrived in the country last week after a successful U20 Eurobasket tournament with Spain, where he led his country's point-scoring and rebounding.
The 19-year-old NBA draft prospect follows in the footsteps of his former Real Madrid and Overtime Elite teammate Alex Sarr, who played for the Wildcats last season before getting snapped up by Washington with the second selection in this year's draft.
The entire Wildcats squad will kick off training camp late next week before a total of 10 pre-season matches, starting with a pair of hit-outs against NBL1 West Select on Friday 23 August (Morley Rec Centre) and Sunday 25 August (Lakeside).
The team will then embark on an historic trip to Japan to take on B-League outfits Nagoya (Saturday 31 August), Chiba Jets (Monday 2 September) and Yokohama (Wednesday 4 September).
Following the Japan trip, the Wildcats head to the Gold Coast for the annual NBL Blitz pre-season tournament where they clash against New Zealand (Sunday 8 September), Illawarra (Tuesday 10 September) and Cairns (Thursday 12 September).
Perth’s season opener is against South East Melbourne Phoenix at RAC Arena on Friday 20 September as part of the inaugural Hoops Fest in WA.
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