Asia Cup Gold medal, cut-down net has a special place at home, in heart for Tyrese Proctor

BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Tyrese Proctor is expected to have an illustrious career ahead of him filled with achievements and accolades.

For now, however, the memorabilia from one of his biggest on-court accomplishments - winning FIBA Asia Cup 2022 with the Australia Boomers - sits as the centerpiece of his collection at home, as shown in the "HOME" docu-series produced by Baseline.

"There's the Asia Cup medal," said Proctor as he stroked the gold medallion.

"There's actually bite marks on it."

Those marks are the wear and tear of celebration after an undefeated run through the competition where Proctor averaged 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the three-point line.

He also revealed that was not the only cool piece of keepsake he had from playing in Indonesia - one of the entire nets cut down from Istora Senayan.

"I think Mitch McCarron had it and then we were on the bus or something and he didn't want it, so yeah, I'll take it," he said. "I got the whole net, but everyone got a whole piece of the net."

 

After the Asia Cup stint, Proctor went on to have a productive freshman season in the NCAA with the Duke Blue Devils averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per contest. He was a key part of the team's success in winning the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament.

He gives some of the credit for that past season to the Asia Cup experience.

"Going to Indonesia was a really good experience," said Proctor. "I feel like my game developed a lot at the tournament, playing with older guys, playing against older grown men that have played in FIBA basketball for a long time.

"Coming away with the gold was one of the goals we had going in and to actually have done it was a really surreal feeling."

"His stint in the Asia Cup, I think he separated himself right then and there," said friend and mentor Nate Brown. "Like he separated himself from everybody by being on that big stage at his young age.

"When they were able to witness in 4k what he did over in Asia Cup at 18 years old on the court with some of the best players, that separated something."

Proctor, who is now 19, is used to being ahead of the curve. While playing at the Asia Cup was his first appearance in a FIBA tournament, it was not his Boomers debut. Proctor had already played in a game against China in the World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers in June 2022 prior to the Asia Cup.

His actual debut was on 20 February 2021 in the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers when he was still only 16 years old. In that game, Proctor shared the court with Dyson Daniels who was also making his senior national team debut and would go on to be a member of the World Cup 2023 squad and an NBA Draft lottery pick.

The two talented guards are close to each other and along with the likes of Josh Giddey (who also made his senior national team debut in the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers), Patty Mills, and many others, could form a lethal guard lineup for the Boomers in the near future.

"I speak to those guys all the time," Proctor said in a separate interview with ESPN. "I'm really close with Dyson and caught up with Josh in LA a few months ago. I was with Patty a few nights ago just chatting with him about some stuff. I think it's been good, we got a really good group coming up and our guard play is going to be one of the strongest in the world."

Once Proctor and that group reaches their full potential together, he might find his room filled with more bite-marked medals and cut-down nets.

Could that include another Asia Cup gold medal in 2025? That's always a possibility, but Australia will first have to go through the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers which tipoff in February next year.

The Boomers' first game will be against Korea on February 22, as they compete their way through Group A which also includes Thailand and Indonesia.

FIBA