Troy Simons hasn't been on Irish soil very long but the American is already going to be playing in a national basketball league decider.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native joined Pyrobel Killester in late January and on Sunday, will be part of their team in the InsuranceMyVan.ie Super League final against Griffith College Éanna.
It's a huge day for Killester with the Dublin club's women's team also in league final action earlier that afternoon on what could end up being a day of double celebrations.
As for Simons, the 27-year-old has been much-travelled prior to his arrival on these shores. And while the indoor nature of his sport means he's not often at the mercy of our recent inclement weather, he's finding everything else about his new city much to his liking.
"Dublin is lovely. I definitely like it here, the people are nice and everything's lovely here," he says.
"Back home it's obviously bigger, because I grew up in the city, so I'm used to being in the city a lot. So once I'm in Dublin, I feel more comfortable because I'm around a lot of people and I can explore and see some new stuff so I can get used to it easily once I'm in the city."
While basketball would certainly fall under the rubric of a minority sport here behind the likes of GAA, soccer and rugby, in his short time in Ireland, Simons feels the culture for the sport is stronger than casual observers realise.
"Basketball culture, most people would probably say it's not all that but I'd have to disagree with that," he says.
"Because the basketball coaches here, it's tough for real, because any team can win on any day, every team plays to win, every team is tough, they play tough, it's physical and hopefully we can show everybody that on Sunday."
Before taking his career to Dublin, the shooting guard had been at British Basketball League side Plymouth City Patriots since February 2022.
That month is particularly noteworthy as it coincided with the time he had to make a drastic exit out of Ukraine just days before Russia's invasion.
Up to then he had been enjoying his time playing for Kharkivski Sokoly, the team representing the country's second-largest city Kharkiv.
But that all changed amid growing portents suggesting a Russian invasion was imminent and following US President Joe Biden's warning to his nation's citizens in Ukraine to leave the country as soon as possible.
"I left probably four or five days before the war started," Simons explains, adding those few hours and days were "a wild experience".
"The other Americans and I came to an agreement about whether we were going to stay or not and our president back home, he had made an announcement saying that if we were in Ukraine, to get out as fast as we can.
"So once we heard that, we talked to the club and we had to get up out of there.
"We were able to fly out but it was definitely hectic getting to the airport because we had to catch a train to get to the airport and catching the train and everything was definitely hectic because there were a lot of people trying to get out before (the invasion) happened."
Simons still keeps in touch with some of his former team-mates and coaches in Ukraine and with the war still ongoing, finds it surreal to watch what has been unfolding from afar.
"It's crazy because people probably don't know it because of the pictures now but Ukraine is definitely a beautiful place - or was a beautiful place - and I loved it there," he says.
"It was definitely like a second home for me. People were nice, my team was lovely. I definitely fell in love with it."
He has also gelled quickly with his Killester team-mates in the couple of months that he has played with them.
So much so that he was already weighing in with a huge 37-point haul in the win over UCC Demons at the end of March which booked their passage into Sunday's final against Éanna.
And given he wasn't part of the Killester team that played Éanna previously during the league season, Simons hopes that lack of first-hand familiarity with the opposition will be balanced out by the swift cohesion he has found within his own team's ranks.
"Once I got here, they definitely welcomed me with open arms and once we got a few practices under our belt, we definitely clicked instantly. It happened really fast but I'm glad it did," he says.
"I believe we really started clicking as a unit these last few games and we showed other teams in the league what we can do and what we're about."
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