BIO: Sam McDaniel was born in Tasmania, where his father Wayne played for the Hobart Devils and later moved to Adelaide (SA), where he spent the majority of his childhood. There he began playing basketball as a junior with the Southern Tigers basketball program.

His father Wayne played 12 NBL seasons including six for Hobart (1989-1994) where he became the all-time franchise leader in games played, points scored and rebounds.

Over his NBL career McDaniel was known as a lockdown defender that was a key part of playoff runs for both Melbourne United and the Tasmania JackJumpers.

FAMILY: Sam McDaniel is the son of Wayne McDaniel who played 288 games in the NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Sam McDaniel made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats at 22 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

During the 2017/18 season McDaniel saw limited court time for the Perth Wildcats who finished in third place finish that season with a 16-12 record.

MELBOURNE UNITED
2018/19
Melbourne entered the 2018/19 season looking to defend their championship. They were able to retain their core group, first re-signing team captain Chris Goulding (two-year deal) and David Barlow (one-year deal) before securing Josh Boone (one-year deal) and Casper Ware (one-year deal), who were a challenge to bring back due to strong interest from multiple overseas teams. The team also added DJ Kennedy (via Turkey), Mitch McCarron (via Cairns), and Alex Pledger (via New Zealand) to further strengthen their lineup. Additionally, United brought in Sam McDaniel as a development player from the Hobart Chargers to provide depth and develop young talent.

Sam McDaniel (0.1 points, 0.4 rebounds) saw minimal courttime, playing only 12 games as a development player and his best game coming against Perth on March 15, 2019, where he recoreded 2 points and 1 rebound.

Dean Vickerman’s leadership earned him the NBL Coach of the Year award as Melbourne went on to defeat the Sydney Kings in the semifinals (2-0) before falling short of a championship, losing to Perth in four games.

McDaniel scored his first NBL field goal in front of 13,412 Perth fans in Game 3 of the 2019 Grand Final series.

2019/20
For the 2019/20 season, McDaniel averaged 1.3 points and 0.6 rebounds, and helped United finish the year in a fourth place finish with a record of 15-13.

2020/21
The 2020/21 season saw McDaniel average 4.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1 assist in 38 games. Starting the season at the very end of the bench, his defensive play earned him a spot in the team’s starting lineup, playing alongside Mitch McCarron by season’s end. He would start in 24 games for United and scored a career high 15-points against the Bullets in round 13. He would play a key role in helping the team finish in first place finish with a 28-8 record in what was a roller-coaster season that saw United make their run to the championship on the road.

United had drawn Victorian rivals the South East Melbourne Phoenix as their semi finals opponents but with the Victorian lockdown keeping both team’s out of the state, their semi finals series began in empty arenas in held 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 Jock Landale delivering a equal season-high 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks on shooting 11/13 from the floor and a perfect 3/3 from beyond United came away victorious with a 84-74 win. 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 a obvious choice for the Finals MVP.

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS
2021/22

McDaniel’s contract with United finished up in 2021 and shortly after he began talking with the league’s newest franchise, the Tasmania Jackjumpers. With the JackJumpers looking to lock in a young core for their roster they offered McDaniel a multi-year deal and made it a easy decision to move to Tassie for his fifth NBL season. McDaniel was the only JackJumpers fully rostered player born in Tasmania.

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 a 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 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 paid off and the team rounded out their season with 10 wins from their last 12 games, finishing with a 17–11 record and fifth spot on the ladder.

McDaniel 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.

McDaniel finished the season averaging 5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists as the JackJumpers drew the reigning champions and McDaniel’s former team, Melbourne United 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 a 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 Jarell 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.

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS
2022/23
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).

McDaniel appeared in 14 games for the season, averaging 4.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.7 assists.

BRISBANE BULLETS
2023/24
McDaniel signed a two-year deal to play with the Brisbane Bullets on 31 March 2023, reuniting with former coach Justin Schueller from their time together at Melbourne United.

“Sam is one of the first players I thought of to help impact and change the way we defend as a club,” Bullets Head Coach Justin Schueller said upon signing McDaniel.

“I’ve been in the fire with Sam and won with him, he has the habits and mindset we need and knows what championship success looks like!”

Sam McDaniel currently plays for the Brisbane Bullets and has played 146 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 4.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists since entering the league in 2017.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Brisbane Bullets – 2 Year Deal (2023-25)

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.