Brisbane Bullets

The "Sunshine Stoush" against the Cairns Taipans is a fixture between two Queensland clubs in one state, which the league now markets as its own derby. That rivalry outlasted the club itself: when Eddy Groves's company ABC Learning Centres collapsed in 2008 and took the Bullets down with it, the derby simply went dormant. It took a social media push, #BringBackTheBullets, and a league revamp under executive chairman Larry Kestelman to bring the team back for the 2016–17 season, this time under a consortium that included former NBA player Kevin Martin and sports executive Jason Levien.

Before the collapse, the Bullets had already built the case for why their return mattered. As one of the ten foundation teams of the National Basketball League in 1979, they won the championship in 1985, beating the Adelaide 36ers 120–95, and again in 1987 against the Perth Wildcats. A third title followed in 2006–07, when they saw off the Melbourne Tigers 3–1, paired that year with the Pre-Season Blitz.

Since coming back, the club has started collecting fresh silverware of its own, taking the 2024 Loggins-Bruton Cup with an 85–82 win over the Taipans — a trophy named for a player. Games are split between the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall, Nissan Arena and Pat Rafter Arena, but it is the Boondall crowd that fills out closest to the venue's 11,000 capacity for the visits from Cairns.

No one at the club is discussed the way Leroy Loggins is. Three times the league's Most Valuable Player, he had his number 30 retired by the Bullets.