Mitch Clarke (basketball)

Mitchell Clarke (born 26 November 1999) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Bendigo Braves of the NBL1 South. He played five seasons with the Perry Lakes Hawks in the NBL1 West before joining the Perth Wildcats of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) in 2021, where he spent two seasons with their extended squad. He played for the Bendigo Braves in 2022 before returning to the Hawks in 2023. After a season with the Reading Rockets of the English National Basketball League, he re-joined Bendigo in 2024.

Early life
Clarke attended Scotch College in Perth, Western Australia, where he competed in athletics, basketball and football.

Perry Lakes Hawks and Bendigo Braves
In 2017, Clarke debuted in the State Basketball League (SBL) for the Perry Lakes Hawks. He averaged 2.89 points, 1.32 rebounds and 1.04 assists in 28 games in his first season. In 2018, he helped the Hawks win the SBL championship. He averaged 6.39 points, 2.18 rebounds and 2.42 assists in 33 games in his second season. In 2019, he averaged 8.29 points, 3.82 rebounds and 2.89 assists in 28 games for the Hawks. In 2020, he helped the Hawks reach the grand final of the West Coast Classic. In 15 games, he averaged 10.87 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.13 assists per game.

In the inaugural NBL1 West season in 2021, Clarke helped the Hawks win the championship. In 25 games, he averaged 13.12 points, 4.48 rebounds and 4.16 assists per game.

In 2022, Clarke joined the Bendigo Braves of the NBL1 South. In 21 games, he averaged 10.95 points, 4.24 rebounds, 3.52 assists and 1.57 steals per game.

Clarke returned to the Hawks for the 2023 NBL1 West season. On 30 June 2023, he scored 40 points with seven 3-pointers in a 95–94 win over the Willetton Tigers. In 23 games, he averaged 18.26 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.78 assists and 1.78 steals per game.

Clarke returned to the Braves for the 2024 NBL1 South season.

Perth Wildcats
On 2 December 2021, Clarke signed with the Perth Wildcats of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) as a development player for the 2021–22 season. He had been part of the Wildcats' academy and pre-season training squads since 2018 and impressed during the 2021 NBL Blitz pre-season tournament. He made his NBL debut on 5 December in the Wildcats' 90–67 win over the Cairns Taipans, playing the final two minutes of the game and recording one turnover. He played four games for the Wildcats during the season. He re-joined the Wildcats in 2022–23 as a training player.

Reading Rockets
In August 2023, Clarke signed with the Reading Rockets of the English National Basketball League for the 2023–24 season. On 19 November 2023, he scored 31 points against the Essex Rebels. He helped the team reach the playoff final, where they lost 87–84 to Hemel Storm despite Clarke's 16 points. He was named to the NBL D1 All Conference British First Team after averaging 15.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.

Personal life
Clarke is the son of Kerry and Peter. His mother was a championship-winning assistant coach at the Perry Lakes Hawks.