Basketball's Infinite Game: Breaking Free from Scarcity Mindset

For most of my career, I believed greatness was a solo climb.

If you wanted to make it, you had to outwork everyone.
Teammates were competition.
Opponents were enemies.
Minutes, buckets, and contracts were scarce resources you had to fight for.

That belief made me relentless—hungry, driven, obsessed.
But it also made me small.
Isolated.
Exhausted.

Over time, I learned the truth: you can’t do it alone.

In college, I hid my workouts.
Didn’t tell teammates when I was shooting.
Didn’t share what I was learning.
Didn’t ask for help.

I told myself it was independence.
But underneath that was fear.

Fear of being seen as weak.
Fear of someone stealing what I’d worked for.
Fear that if I helped others, I’d fall behind.

I thought independence meant strength.
But what it really meant was loneliness.

For three years of college, I didn’t improve.
I was working hard—but fear kept me isolated.
And when you isolate yourself, there’s no new awareness, no growth, no wisdom gained.

Everything changed one off-season.

It started small—just me and my wife at an outdoor court before she went to work.
Then Nick Marshall joined.
Then Koen Sapwell, Alex Mudronja, my wife’s brother, and a few others.

We called it The Breakfast Club.

Every morning at 6 a.m., we met to work out, compete, and learn.

At first, my old mindset resisted it. Fear told me not to help.
“What if Nick improves so much and takes my spot on the team?”
But then something clicked: the more I helped them, the more I helped myself.

Coaching forced me to articulate my craft.
Feedback sharpened my awareness.
And showing up every day with people I cared about was so much fun.

It wasn’t just about getting shots up anymore—it was about creating an ecosystem of growth.

Last night, I played against Nick in the NBL.

We guarded each other—same position, direct matchup.
He knows all my moves and tendencies.

Sure, he might stop one of my moves.
Sure, he might beat me one night.
But every battle sharpens us both.
Over time, we’re both winning.

When Nick came back from college, I could’ve ignored him—stuck in that old scarcity mindset.
The fear of him taking my spot with the Adelaide 36ers could’ve dictated my behaviour.
If I’d listened to that fear, it probably would’ve become true.

Neither of us would’ve improved.
We might both still be in Adelaide, sitting on the bench, wondering why we weren’t moving forward.

Instead, we chose collaboration.
We trained together, pushed each other, shared what we knew.

And that shift changed everything—new opportunities, new contracts, more minutes, and most importantly, more belief.

Because when you collaborate, the possibilities multiply.

That’s what I call the infinite game:
where collaboration and connection expand your world,
and every person you help becomes another reason you rise.

The better the people around you get, the better you get.
It’s that simple.

Because if your training partner gets sharper, you get sharper.

Scarcity says, Protect what’s yours.
Abundance says, Create more together.

One leaves you fighting for minutes.
The other turns you into someone no one can replace.

You can’t make it alone.

You can try. You can grind on your own, hide your process, hoard your secrets.
But greatness isn’t a solo climb—it’s a shared rise.

Every championship, every elite player, every dynasty—none of them were built alone.

The best players lift others, teach others, and compete with love, not fear.

Because they understand the truth:
When one of us gets better, we all get better.

Build your own Breakfast Club.
Share what you know.
Give more than you take.

You’ll realise that success isn’t a ladder—it’s a circle.
And the only way up… is together.