No shortage of motivation for Parsons to return

Image credit: Travis Anderson | @andmediaphoto

De'Sean Parsons was keen to return to the Goldfields Giants to build on what they started in the 2024 NBL1 West season, he didn't want to miss being part of their new home stadium and the captaincy has topped things off for him.

Parsons had a standout first season playing in Australia when he joined the Giants in 2024 ending up named to the All-NBL1 West First Team putting up 24.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.3 steals a game.

That made him an obvious target for the Giants on the back of a season playing in Israel with his last game only being back on March 13, and he wasn’t short on reasons to want to return.

The big man couldn’t have enjoyed his first season more, couldn’t have liked being part of the Kalgoorlie community more and wanted to see if the Giants could go a little further than last year's semi-final appearance.

On top of that, Parsons was able to be there for the opening of the new Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium as he delivered 24 points, 12 rebounds and five assists to pick right up where he left off in Saturday night's season-opening win over the Cockburn Cougars.

Honoured by captaincy

Jerome Reid has done a terrific job as Giants captain in recent years but with the 214-game veteran on the comeback trail from injury, Parsons has been named to lead Goldfields in 2025 and it's an honour that means a lot to the 30-year-old.

"Being named captain of the team is a huge honour and it shows how much trust Lennon and the whole organisation has for me to allow me to do that," Parsons said.

"There's not many imports that get made captains because a lot of them only play for their teams for one season so it's a lot of trust they have given me, and it drives me to make sure even more that I give the best version of myself this year in return.

"I see it as a blessing to have that and I plan on repaying the club by leading the team the best I can."

Motivation to return

From the moment last season ended for the Giants in the semi finals with a heartbreaking loss to eventual champions Mandurah, Parsons knew that he wanted to return to build on what that team had done.

Couple that with wanting to be there for the unveiling of the new stadium and also just because of how much he enjoyed Kalgoorlie, and it wasn't a difficult choice.

"First of all, I have to thank our coach from last year, Matt Van Pelt, for bringing me in because without him I'd never have got the opportunity to come to Australia and the Goldfields," Parsons said.

"Then throughout last season, I fell in love with the community here and working on the side with the schools and with the team, I loved everything about it.

"We had a great season too to make that playoffs run and we had a special team, and to come back I just wanted to build off that and get the Giants an import that was willing to come back for a second year because it can be hard to find that.

"I wanted to provide that stability so we could build on the foundation we built last year and try to have another special run this year and go a bit further."

Playing in the new stadium

While Parsons did love everything about the experience of living and playing in Kalgoorlie last year, he could see the way the new Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium was coming together and didn’t want to miss the chance of getting to play in it.

He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it for Round 1 just because it depended on when his season in Israel ended, but it turned out perfectly where he led the Giants to the big win over the Cougars to mark the occasion.

"It's an amazing building and so much credit has to go to our chairman Tags (Rob Tagliaferri) and he calls it his little baby," Parsons said.

"It's been a project he's had going on for a long period of time but compared to the stadium last year, the facilities are 10 times better and it's such a big step up and after how long that stadium had been around.

"But for how much the Goldfields Giants brings to all of Kalgoorlie, the whole community deserves this and everyone is able to use it at times.

"So it's a special thing for me to be able to come back and be here for that first game to open the stadium was a very special moment. Then to back it up and get the win just topped it all off too."

Having proven point guard on board

Another aspect of this 2025 season that has Parsons excited about is the team he is part of with the Giants including new faces Michael Jok and Joshua Duach.

Import point guard Shaun Stewart is also on deck having previously been part of the 2023 championship at the Geraldton Buccaneers and having played 95 games all up between the Buccs and the Mandurah Magic.

"Shaun brings with him a lot of experience in the league and he's won a championship at Geraldton and was runner-up MVP if I'm right with that so he's a high-calibre player," Parsons said.

"I don't want to take anything away from Randy (Bell) who we had last year and I loved playing with him, we did something special here last year and he will be missed for sure.

"But knowing what Shaun brings, he will give us another dynamic as a true point guard and that's going to help everybody get better.

"And it's another vet for us who can be a floor general and with both he and I having the experience we do, we won't have any trouble meshing and knowing he had signed was another big reason why I signed to come back and it eased my mind a lot knowing he was on board."

Life as a pro internationally year round

When Parsons did complete his time at Portland State University, he knew wanted to try to make a living playing basketball the best he could but he really never knew what that might entail.

Obviously every player's dream is to make it to the NBA, but Parsons has done a terrific job of now for eight years being able to make a living playing all over the world even if it did have to come from humble beginnings.

From that first couple of months in Armenia, Parsons has spent time playing in Russia, Finland, Slovakia, Israel, Vietnam, Hungary, Austria and Iceland along with now what is his second season down under in Kalgoorlie.

"I had no idea how my career would go because I started out representing myself trying to find a job and I had to start out at one of the lowest levels because I hadn’t played for almost a year because I went back to college for half a year to start my master's," Parsons said.

"So I started at a pretty low level in Armenia for two and-a-half months and averaged some amazing numbers (25.2 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists) which led to me signing in Russia to play Super League 1 which was a big jump to finish my rookie season.

"After that I went to Finland and then after this season COVID, and that's when I signed with an agent and things started to pick up. Starting off my career was very rocky but it's all worked out because I stuck with it at the end of the day for me, but it is hard."

The challenging part for Parsons is that he gets precious little time to get back home to see his mother, his siblings and even their children as they are rapidly growing up.

It's been a year and-a-half now since he's even been able to got back home for a visit having come from Iceland to play his first season at the Giants, then heading to Israel and now returning straight to Kalgoorlie.

"There's a lot of sacrifice and not getting to see my family, especially my nieces and nephews and my mum and brothers and sisters, is hard," Parsons said.

"Being away from them home for such long periods of time is tough especially during the holidays, I think that's probably the worst part. But at the end of the day, it's a blessing to get to do what I love for a living and I know it's not going to last forever.

"I just have to take advantage of it while I can and experience the world while I'm still able to put the ball in the hoop as my job as long as I can. Not a lot of people are able to do this so even though it might be hard, I know how blessed I am to be able to do this."

Looking ahead to after basketball

While having only recently turned 30 years of age there's no need for Parsons to have to start thinking his playing careers are going to be ending any time soon, but he already has an eye on what he would like to do.

Given the foster care system he grew up in and given how much he has enjoyed working with kids as a player including in Kalgoorlie, that's the path he would like to go down once he completes his master's and does settle back home.

"I went back for that half a year to start my master's and I will get back to finishing it, and it's in child development so that' something I'm very passionate about," Parsons said.

"I want to do something with kids when I stop playing just because I grew up in the foster care system in the States, and I was in that until I was 21.

"Helping kids and showing kids that they can make it out of any situation is my passion behind everything that I do so I will finish my master's one day, and then turn that into a career in some way when I finish playing."