BIO: Born in London, England, Salt grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, where he had a distinguished career at Westlake Boys High School. He was also a part of the Nike all Asia camp in 2013.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jack Salt made his NBL debut with the New Zealand Breakers at 17 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Salt, Luuk Witteveen, Alonzo Burton, and Duane Bailey all joined the Breakers in 2013 as Development Players, joining a New Zealand roster that was undergoing a major coaching change.

“I am really happy to have the chance to train with the team and hopefully get some game time on court, so just really happy to have been offered the chance.” Said Salt on signing his development player deal.

“I am looking forward to developing my game, and learning from guys like Mika and Alex and learning from the coaches as well. I hope to go to college for basketball next year and after that either come back to play for the SKYCITY Breakers or the NBA or college basketball.”

After winning three consecutive championships with New Zealand, Lemanis was named head coach of the Australian men’s national basketball team. His departure saw assistant Dean Vickerman elevated to head coach and tasked with extending the Breakers championship streak.

Vickerman was taking over a Breakers squad that had lost star import Cedric Jackson (Europe) and Dillon Boucher through retirement and, as a result, started the season poorly, losing three out of their first four games. The poor start led to Vickerman sending out a SOS to former Breakers favourite and two-time champion Gary Wilkinson (15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists), who joined the team in late October. Then in December, perhaps motivated by the team’s sluggish start, veteran CJ Bruton (6.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) let it be known he would retire at the end of the season just prior to playing the 500th game of his career. By January, the Breakers made a second move and brought in Casey Frank (5.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) to replace the injured Alex Pledger (10.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks), who had multiple stints on the sidelines and only managed to appear in 13 games.

American guard Kerron Johnson (12.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.1 steals), who had signed as a replacement for Jackson, struggled to fill the large void left at the point guard spot, and Thomas Abercrombie (15.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists) had to shoulder the load for much of the season, finding himself with a lack of space due to Johnson’s lacklustre range. After not being able to put more than two consecutive wins together all year, they ended their season in seventh place (11–17).

Salt appeared in three games and scored a total of two points.

BRISBANE BULLETS
2021/22
After finishing sixth with an 18-18 record and missing the playoffs, Brisbane entered the season with Andrej Lemanis leaving after five years as head coach. The Bullets considered promoting assistant coach and former player CJ Bruton before appointing former Sydney Kings assistant James Duncan.

Vic Law (to Perth), Matt Hodgson (to Perth), Harry Froling (to Illawarra), Callum Dalton (to Melbourne) and BJ Johnson (to Orlando) departed, while Lamar Patterson returned and Tyrell Harrison and Jason Cadee signed two-year deals. Brisbane added Robert Franks (via Lakeland Magic), Isaiah Moss (via Otago), Jack Salt (via Canterbury), Deng Deng (via Illawarra), Chuanxing Liu (via Qingdao), Next Star Tom Digbeu (via BC Prienai) and development player Taane Samuel.

The New Zealand centre joined Brisbane on a one-year deal after an injury-disrupted two years and his return to the court with Canterbury. “I’m super excited about the opportunity and am looking forward to getting to Brisbane,” he said.

Brisbane opened the season against league newcomer Tasmania at MyState Bank Arena on December 3, where the returning centre played 2:36 without scoring, while Sobey (24 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists) and Franks (19 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks) led the Bullets, but Adams (20 points) helped the JackJumpers win their first NBL game 83-74 in overtime.

Salt (2.9 points across 21 games) started 15 times, averaged 10.8 minutes and shot 54 per cent from the field. He was not used in the three games following the opener, missed Brisbane’s February 5 loss to Cairns because of COVID protocols and remained on the bench against Adelaide on April 3 and Illawarra on April 9. Salt was unavailable for the final game, with Brisbane not publicly identifying the reason, while the NBL later stated health issues had restricted his output during the season. No new basketball injury was publicly confirmed during NBL22.

His best scoring game came against New Zealand at Nissan Arena on January 9, where Salt (10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal) made 5-of-6 shots in 11 minutes during his first appearance since the opener. Patterson (17 points and 7 rebounds) and Sobey (14 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists) led Brisbane, but Wetzell (27 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals) carried the Breakers to an 88-83 victory.

Brisbane reached the halfway point with a 5-9 record before injuries further disrupted Duncan’s rotation. Franks (18.2 points and 8.9 rebounds) finished fifth in the NBL in scoring, while Patterson (16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists), Sobey (16.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists), Cadee (10.4 points and 5 assists), Drmic (7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds), Deng (6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds) and Harrison (6.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks) were Brisbane’s other major contributors. Sobey missed 16 games with a knee injury and Harrison missed 11 with an ongoing elbow injury, while Brisbane finished as the league’s worst defensive team at 89.3 points conceded per game and led the NBL with 14.6 turnovers per game.

Franks received the Leroy Loggins MVP Award and Members’ MVP, while Salt was voted Players’ Player by his teammates for his positive contribution on and off the court. Deng received Defensive Player of the Year and Liu (2.9 points across 23 games) won Young Player of the Year.

Salt was one of eight unavailable players when Brisbane closed the season with only seven players able to take the floor against Cairns at Cairns Convention Centre on April 23. Franks (30 points, 15 rebounds, and 1 steal) and Krebs (20 points) led the Bullets, while McCall (42 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, and 4 steals) produced the first 40-point, 10-assist game of the NBL’s 40-minute era as Cairns won 112-98 and Brisbane finished eighth with a 10-18 record.

Jack Salt played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the New Zealand Breakers and the Brisbane Bullets. He averaged 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 24 NBL games.