The Sydney Kings have defended their recruitment process after terminating the contract of new import Lamonte Turner over a failed physical assessment.
The Kings had viewed the American point guard as the missing piece in their NBL championship puzzle, and a starting back-court partner for fellow import Jaylen Adams.
But the club announced they had cut him only hours before what was supposed to be his NBL debut against Melbourne United on Thursday night.
The Kings will not go to market for a replacement player to finish the season, Brian Goorjian's first season back in charge of the team.
"It's pretty simple, to be honest, we brought him in, we go through the rigours of a medical and a physical and a conditioning session and he didn't pass it," Kings chief executive officer Chris Pongrass told ESPN.
"The process of bringing in someone, we needed a high guard. There's less than a month left in the regular season.
"We want someone that can come in, play games and contribute. We weren't able to get that done. It's pretty simple that we don't want to have someone that's just there and unable to be utilised."
Turner had been on the Kings' radar for months before officially signing last week, and was busy analysing video footage during that time to familiarise himself with the team.
A scout who was not a member of the Kings' coaching staff assessed Turner in the US before Sydney offered him a contract, and had signed off on his ability.
In an interview with AAP this week, Turner said he had not suffered any injuries while in talks with the Kings, but he had not played since last April when he was sidelined with a broken thumb.
"There's only so much you can know about someone coming in, in terms of a conditioning and medical stand-point," Pongrass said.
"We rely on a lot of things. Of course there's some things in our processes that we've got to go back on.
"It's obviously not an ideal situation. We expected someone to come in and be a nice connecting piece. But the group took it really well."
Turner has played his entire professional career to date in Europe and was South-Eastern Conference sixth man of the year as a sophomore at the University of Tennessee in 2018.
His abrupt termination leaves Kings guards Izayah Le'Afa and Shaun Bruce to shoulder the load next to Adams on the run to the post-season.
