NBL playoff hopefuls South East Melbourne are set to shuffle their roster and chase a new import to fill injured forward Craig Moller's shoes after cutting American guard Will Cummings.
Cummings has been released with immediate effect, the 31-year-old understood to have failed to meet off-court requirements.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told AAP that Cummings had been warned multiple times about missing recovery and community engagement sessions.
Phoenix coach Mike Kelly and high-performance staff lost their patience with him this week and the club released a brief statement on the matter.
"South East Melbourne Phoenix has parted ways with American import Will Cummings, effective immediately," the club statement read.
"The team will endeavour to replace Cummings on the roster in due course.
"No further comments will be made on this matter."
Cummings had averaged 14.5 points, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals across a dozen games this season for South East Melbourne, who entered round 10 in fourth spot with a 7-6 record.
The move to axe Cummings leaves the Phoenix with star centre Alan Williams and point-guard Gary Browne filling two of their three available roster slots for imports.
They also have one local slot to fill after Moller sustained a season-ending knee injury this month.
If an import forward can be found to replace Moller, it would leave the Phoenix chasing a local guard to complete the new-look roster.
Kelly is expected to use development players to top up his team for Sunday's road game against the Sydney Kings.
The third-placed Kings (8-5) opened round 10 with a tense 86-83 win over the Cairns Taipans on Thursday.
