BIO: Will Magnay was born in Brisbane (QLD) where he attended school at Nudgee. He began playing basketball as a junior with the Brisbane basketball program and in 2015 Magnay received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra). He spent three years year there and played for the program’s SEABL team between 2015-17.

After his third year in Canberra he accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Tulsa in (2017).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Will Magnay made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 19 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

In October 2017, Magnay left Tulsa University and signed a three-year deal with his hometown team, the Brisbane Bullets. Magnay began his NBL career as a development player and played in 16 games, averaging 2.2 points and 1.5 rebounds as the Bullets finished in eighth place (9-19). Magnay would be elevated to the team’s main roster for the next season.

2018/19
After finishing dead last in 2018, Brisbane said goodbye to Adam Gibson (to South East Melbourne), Shaun Bruce (to Sydney), and Anthony Petrie (retired) and went on a recruiting drive that brought in Boomers sharpshooter Cameron Gliddon (via Cairns), Jason Cadee (via Sydney), Matt Hodgson (via Adelaide), Tom Jervis (via Perth), and Mika Vukona (via New Zealand). The Bullets also welcomed back Rio Olympian and former Chicago Bull Cam Bairstow, who was returning after a knee reconstruction, added Makoto Hiejima under the NBL’s Asian Player rule, making him the first Japanese player to sign with an NBL team, and added NBA veteran Alonzo Gee (via Puerto Rico) as an import.

These key signings were meant to bolster Brisbane’s roster as they prepared for a tough start to the season, with 12 of their first 15 games coming against last season’s top-four playoff teams.

Four games into the season, Brisbane was forced to release Alonzo Gee (7.8 points 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists) after four matches when the veteran of 417 NBA games requested to go home to the US for ‘personal reasons’. A month later, import Stephen Holt (7.1 points 1.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists), concerned about his playing time (16.6 minutes per game), was granted a mutual release and left to pursue an opportunity in Europe. To fill the gap, Brisbane signed Lamar Patterson (via China) to replace Gee (October 2018) and Jeremy Kendle (6.0 points 1.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists), who had been training with the team throughout the season, to cover the loss of Holt.

In January, a 29-point loss to Cairns had Brisbane sitting middle of the ladder (9-9). During this time, Nnanna Egwu (0.0 points 2.3 rebounds) was brought in for three games as an injury replacement, and Kendle’s contract was extended for the rest of the season. Additionally, rarely used Japanese guard Makoto Hiejima was replaced by import AJ Davis (4.1 points 2.0 rebounds and 0.3 assists), son of NBA legend Antonio Davis, to further improve the roster.

Despite the ups and downs, Will Magnay (1.3 points 0.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists) delivered a steady season for the Bullets, primarily coming off the bench. His best games of the season included 4 points 2 rebounds and 1 assist against Adelaide (15 Dec 2018), 3 points 0 rebounds and 1 block against Illawarra (22 Nov 2018), and 2 points 2 rebounds and 1 block against Illawarra (31 Dec 2018).

Alongside Will Magnay, Brisbane was led offensively by Lamar Patterson (17.8 points 6.2 rebounds 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals), Cameron Gliddon (13.7 points 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists), and Cam Bairstow (11.6 points 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists). Reuben Te Rangi (9.9 points 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists) won the league’s Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year awards.

Brisbane finished the regular season tied with Adelaide (14-14) but secured the fourth spot due to a higher points percentage and advanced to the playoffs.

In Game 1, Terrico White (24 points 3 rebounds and 1 assist) and Bryce Cotton (19 points 2 rebounds and 10 assists) led Perth to a dominant victory (89-59). Cam Gliddon (18 points 4 rebounds and 2 assists) was Brisbane’s top scorer.

In Game 2 (84-79), Terrico White (24 points 3 rebounds) and Bryce Cotton (19 points 10 assists 3 rebounds) again led Perth. Despite strong efforts from Lamar Patterson (19 points 5 rebounds 4 assists and 3 steals) and Matthew Hodgson (15 points 2 blocks), Brisbane was unable to stop Perth from advancing to the Grand Final. Will Magnay saw minimal playing time in both games.

2019/20
The 2019/20 season was a breakout year for Magnay who was elevated into the Bullets starting line-up and averaged 8.1 points and 6.1 rebounds for the season. Magnay was a big reason for the team’s improvement from their season prior., and Brisbane inished the year just shy of the playoffs in fifth place (15-13)

During the season he drew the attention of multiple NBA scouts, who flooded the NBL this season to see LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton. At the end of the season Magnay won the league’s Most Improved Player and was rewarded with a two-way contract to play with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Although Magnay had re-signed with the Bullets on a two-year contract on 19 February 2020, he was granted a release to play in the NBA.

PERTH WILDCATS
2020/21
After suffering a leg injury during the NBA season, Magnay returned to Australia and joined the Perth Wildcats after it was made public the Brisbane Bullets had requested he pay a significant amount of money to exit his contract, delaying his chances to play in the NBA for New Orleans.

With the addition of Magnay and league MVP Bryce Cotton firing alongside new recruit John Mooney (16.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists), the Perth juggernaut appeared to be heading towards a third straight championship. Fate would intervene however, first with star import Bryce Cotton suffering a season ending injury in the last round of the regular season. Magnay would average 4.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists as he played through his injuries and helped the Wildcats finish in second place with a 25-11 record.

Despite all of these obstacles the team still managed to finish in second place and then magically pull through a wild semifinal series against Illawarra.

The Wildcats would then face off against a red-hot Melbourne United, who finished the regular season in first place and had been equally impressive all year.

Although game one and 2 of the Grand Final series had to be played in Perth as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions, Dean Vickerman’s side survived a late scare to win game one by three points before blowing the Wildcat’s out of the water in game two thanks to a 21-point performance from Chris Goulding.

Injuries to Mitch Norton saw Perth struggle with none of their key backcourt rotation at full strength. Kevin White stepped up during this time and delivered the best three-game performance of his career, but Perth seemingly had exhausted themselves overcoming Illawarra. Perth would be lose convincingly to Melbourne, losing three straight games.

With restrictions lifted game three was held on Melbourne’s home court and in front of a sold-out 5,000-strong crowd at John Cain Arena (the maximum allowed within Covid restrictions) United defeated Perth 81-76 in game three. Melbourne’s Jock Landale (15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks) delivered a truly dominating performance to finish the series, taking home the Finals MVP award as Melbourne collected their sixth NBL championship, their second under the United branding.

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS
2021/22
During the 2021 off-season Magnay was pursued by almost every NBL team and after coming close to signing with Perth and Melbourne, he inked a one year deal with the Tasmania JackJumpers to become the team’s first marquee player.

The JackJumpers debut NBL season would begin with low expectations with multiple betting agencies offering 400:1 odds of winning the championship in their first season. However in their NBL debut on 3 December 2021, the Tasmania defeated Brisbane (83–74) in an overtime victory at home to start the season off with a bang.

After scoring their first big win the newly formed squad struggled to find their feet and heading into round eight, Tasmania had won only one more game and sat in ninth spot (2-6). A season ending injury suffered by marquee signing Will Magnay then made things even more difficult and forced the head coach Scott Roth to change their game plan from relying on perimeter shooting to a much more well rounded approach.

The move would pay off and the team rounded out their season with 10 wins from their last 12 games, finishing in fifth place (17–11).

Magnay and the JackJumpers weren’t done however as in true Cinderella fashion, thanks to the South East Melbourne Phoenix beating the Perth Wildcats in the last game of the season, Tasmania overtook Perth to finish in fourth place thanks to points percentage.

Magnay, who altough limited to 11 games, averaged 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks while healthy.

Tasmania drew Melbourne, the reigning champions in the semifinals where again they were not expected to fare well.

Tasmania would lose game one to Melbourne on their home court (74-63), before returning the favour on their home court to even the series (1-1). Heading into the deciding game three an additional stroke of luck befell the team with United Captain Chris Goulding unable to play in game three due to injury. Tasmania would take control in the games final moments, defeating Melbourne in a nail-biter (76-73) to advance to the Grand Final series.

The Sydney Kings defeated the Illawarra Hawks 2-0 on the opposite side of the finals bracket and maintained their strong form, defeating Tasmania in Game one of the Grand Final series 95-78.

Game two saw JackJumpers fan favourite Josh Adams erupt for 36 points in front of a sell-out Tasmanian crowd, but thanks to 20 point efforts from both captain Xavier Cooks and Jarrell Martin (who shot 80% from the field) as well as Dejan Vasiljevic, who nailed a long range dagger in the closing minutes clinched game two for the Kings, 90-86. The win was Sydney’s 12th straight road game victory – the most away wins ever during a single NBL season.

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— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) May 8, 2022

The Kings then closed out the series in game three, ending their 17-year championship drought in front of 16,000 fans at Qudos Bank Arena. Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin would combine for 45 points and 29 rebounds, and the Kings won their 19th win of their final 21 games.

2022/23
Magnay signed a two-year deal to return to the club immediately after Tasmania’s grand final loss (21 Apr 22). The JackJumpers entered their second year with most of their roster locked into multi-year deals, with the only major exits being import duo Josh Adams and MiKyle McIntosh.

While fans lamented the loss of Adams, the team’s leading scorer, coach Scott Roth swiftly replaced him with perhaps an even better talent in Milton Doyle and brought in Rashard Kelly to replace McIntosh.

With Will Magnay (5.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks) recovering from a foot injury and captain Clint Stiendl (4.6 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) sidelined from a knee injury from playing for Australia at the FIBA Asia Cup, Tasmania got off to a shaky start.

Losses to South East Melbourne (79-84), Cairns (84-106) and New Zealand (65-71) saw them sitting equal last with Brisbane three games in. In a battle for the bottom of the ladder, they defeated Brisbane in overtime (90–86) to earn their first win of the season, thanks primarily to Doyle’s 32 points and 4 assists.

Tasmania then rolled off a four-game wining streak which propelled them back into the top six and within playoff contention, where they stayed for the rest of the season.

Milton Doyle (17.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals) led the team in scoring, while Jack McVeigh (14.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) increased his scoring for the fifth consecutive season and was the team’s best local player this season.

Tasmania finished the season in fourth place (16-12), earning a spot in the debut of the NBL’s play-in tournament.

A casualty of the regular season was point guard Josh Magette (10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.0 steals) copping an accidental elbow to the face in Tasmania’s final regular season game against the Hawks. The JackJumpers’ leader and floor general required surgery to fix a broken cheekbone and fractured eye socket and would miss the entire playoffs.

Import Rashard Kelly (12.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) as well as development player Sean MacDonald (6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists) and Isaac White (5.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.6 assists), an injury replacement for Stiendl and Magnay, would fill the void of Magette during the playoffs and after defeating Cairns (79–87) in the play-in qualifier, Tasmania would face second seed New Zealand (18-10) in the semifinals.

In game one, Tasmania would struggle to score, managing only 68 points as a team, their third-lowest score of the season with Kelly (12 points) and Doyle (10 points) the only two players to reach double figures.

Doyle (23 points and 5 assists) would make sure the JackJumpers would even the series with a home win (89-78) in game two., but New Zealand were too strong back on their home floor, closing out the series defeating Tasmania by 15 points (77-92).

Magnay would take home the club’s Defensive Player Award at the end of the season.

Will Magnay currently plays for the Tasmania JackJumpers and has played 123 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 7.2 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assists since entering the league in 2017.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Tasmania JackJumpers – 2 Year Deal (2024-26)

Dan Boyce (811 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.