BIO: Jackson Thomas White was born in Traralgon (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Traralgon basketball program. White received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2015. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2015, 2016).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jack White made his NBL debut with the Cairns Taipans at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In 2016, he was called up to play for the Cairns Taipans of the NBL as an injury replacement before moving to the USA to play for Duke University.

MELBOURNE UNITED
2020/21
After multiple seasons trying to get import Casey Prather back onto the court, both United and Prather mutually agreed to terminate the second season of his contract. Melbourne would then rejig their roster by adding Jack White (via Duke University) and Japanese star Yudai Baba (one-year deal), who signed with the team on an NBL Special Restricted Player contract. The team also re-signed team captain Chris Goulding (three-year deal), David Barlow (one year deal), Mason Peatling (three year deal) and Sam McDaniel (one year deal). United would rely on their local talent this season, signing Scotty Hopson (via Europe) as their lone import for the season and, as their last move, was able to sign Australian Boomers forward Jock Landale (one-year deal) mere weeks prior to the season tip-off, after his Lithuania contracted was voided due to Covid Travel Restrictions.

During the first month of the season, United lost rookie Jack White (9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds), who was a strong pick for the rookie of the year award, when he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury against Cairns. With White requiring 12 months of rehabilitation, retired centre David Andersen was signed as an injury replacement player.

Another injury hit when Chris Goulding (15.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2 assists) was ruled out for the majority of February 2021. As United battled through the injury bug, Jock Landale (16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 blocks) would lead Melbourne in scoring as the team finished in first place (28-8). Melbourne would then face Victorian rivals, the South East Melbourne Phoenix, as their semifinal opponents, but with the Victorian lockdown keeping both teams out of the state, their initial games were played in empty arenas in Sydney.

The two Melbourne team’s split the first two games playing at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena before returning to Melbourne to play the deciding game three with the winner going on to face the Perth Wildcats in the Grand Final. After trailing 32-15 early in the second quarter, Melbourne’s defence locked in to hold South East Melbourne to just 42 points the rest of the night while scoring 69 themselves. With Landale (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks) equalling his season-high for points, shooting 11-13 from the floor and a perfect 3/3 from beyond, United came away with the victory (84-74).

In the same game, Goulding (14 points) notched up his 350th game while Mitch McCarron (11 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists), Scotty Hopson (9 points and 6 boards), and Jo Lual-Acuil (8 points and 3 rebounds) all played important roles in the win. Reuben Te Rangi (22 points) and Mitch Creek (19 points) were key contributors for the Phoenix.

Due to the border restrictions by the Western Australian state government the Perth Wildcats (the lower seed) hosted the first two games of the Grand Final series. While the Wildcat’s remained competitive without their injured superstar Bryce Cotton United would win both games in Perth and return to Melbourne to host the third game (United would have also hosted the fourth and fifth games had they not already won the series by the third game).

A sold-out 5,000-strong crowd at John Cain Arena (the maximum allowed within Covid restrictions) witnessed United defeat Perth (81-76) in what would be Melbourne’s sixth championship and their second under the United branding. Landale (15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks) continued to rack up stats in every category, making him an obvious choice for the Finals MVP.

2021/22
After winning the 2021 championship, Melbourne lost it’s leading scorer Jock Landale to an NBA opportunity with San Antonio and starting point guard Mitch McCarron, who became the league’s highest paid local player as a result of signing a three-year deal with Adelaide. United then quickly turned their attention to rebuilding the roster for the NBL22 season, immediately re-signing Lual Acuil, David Barlow and Shea Ili, received a boost from the return of Jack White, who missed the second half of last season to an ACL injury, and added free agents Brad Newley (via Sydney) and Dion Prewster, who had just won the NZNBL MVP award. Next, United secured the biggest free agent of the year, inking NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova to a three-year deal. Lastly, Caleb Agada, who had just played for Nigeria at the Olympics was replaced import Scotty Hopson and talented young German Ariel Hukporti was added to the roster under the Next Stars program.

Outside of a 0-2 start, United were dominant all season, winning their next three games to end December and then losing only one game (5-1) in January while playing all of their games on the road.

In January 2022, Goulding reached 5,000 NBL points, becoming just the second active player to reach the milestone behind Daniel Johnson (Adelaide).

In Feburary, United would win four of their five games and with a record of 12-4 sit atop of the NBL ladder where they would stay for the remainder of the season. Jo Lual Acuil (16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks) would lead the team in scoring and earn selection to the All-NBL First team while Chris Goulding (15.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) was named to the All-NBL Second Team. The impact of Shea Ili (8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 steals) off the bench was also recognised around the league with him winning the Sixth Man of the Year award. White would appear in 26 games, while averaging 9.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 0.9 assists and helped United finish the regular season in first place (20-8).

Tasmania would finish fourth on the ladder in their first NBL season, setting up a semifinal series against United. As expected, United defeated the JackJumpers in game one (74-63) but playing their first game of playoff basketball at home, Tasmania leveled the series (1-1) with a win in game two. Heading into the deciding game three, captain Goulding was deemed unfit to play, which allowed Tasmania to take clamp down on the defensive end. Without Goulding, United couldn’t buy a basket from outside, with Dellavadova (1-7), Agada (0-7), White (0-5) and Baba (0-2) shot a combined 1-21 from beyond the arc. Overall, United went 6-29 (20 per cent) from three, compared to the JackJumpers 10-32 (31 per cent). Still, United were able to keep it close, and it was only in the final moments that Tasmania secured the victory (76-73), ending Melbourne’s playoff run and making history by reaching a Grand Final in their debut season..

Heading into the deciding game three, captain Goulding was deemed unfit to play, which allowed Tasmania to take clamp down on the defensive end. Without Goulding, United couldn’t buy a basket from outside, with Dellavadova (1-7), Agada (0-7), White (0-5) and Baba (0-2) shot a combined 1-21 from beyond the arc. Overall, United went 6-29 (20 per cent) from three, compared to the JackJumpers 10-32 (31 per cent). Still, United were able to keep it close, and it was only in the final moments that Tasmania secured the victory (76-73), ending Melbourne’s playoff run and making history by reaching a Grand Final in their debut season.

Heading into the deciding game three, captain Goulding was deemed unfit to play, which allowed Tasmania to take clamp down on the defensive end. Without Goulding, United couldn’t buy a basket from outside, with Dellavadova (1-7), Agada (0-7), White (0-5) and Baba (0-2) shot a combined 1-21 from beyond the arc. Overall, United went 6-29 (20 per cent) from three, compared to the JackJumpers 10-32 (31 per cent). Still, United were able to keep it close, and it was only in the final moments that Tasmania secured the victory (76-73), ending Melbourne’s playoff run and making history by reaching a Grand Final in their debut season.

White’s best performance this season came during a loss to Adelaide (83-90), where he shot 8/14 from the field and finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 2 steals .

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NBL (@nbl)

2024/25
On 15 May 2024, White signed a two-year deal with Melbourne United, returning to the franchise for a second stint.

Jack White played three seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Cairns Taipans and the Melbourne United. He averaged 8.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 39 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (795 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.