Teenage Hawke’s Bay Hawks basketball star Jackson Ball is expected to still play for the franchise next year, despite signing with Australia champions the Illawarra Hawks and high-flying US college side the Wisconsin Badgers.
The 17-year-old Napier Boys’ High School joint deputy head boy, who first appeared for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks in New Zealand’s National Basketball League (NBL) last year, will join the Illawarra camp as a development player after completing his year at school.
He will be with the franchise until the end of the 2025-2026 Australian NBL competition, possibly encroaching in the first four to six weeks of the New Zealand season.
Already a senior Tall Blacks national representative, he is likely to be available for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks through to the end of the 2026 New Zealand NBL, before heading to the US to join the University of Wisconsin side.
The contract with Illawarra further cements a unique transtasman Hawks’ relationship, with coach Sam Gruggen having been an assistant at Illawarra and recently finishing his second season as head coach in Hawke’s Bay, and three players having played for both franchises this year.
Hawke’s Bay Hawks general manager and former long-time player and Tall Blacks international Jarrod Kenny said discussions over Ball’s longer-term availability for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks are “yet to be had”, adding they could be around releases to play in parts of the New Zealand season.
The 1.92m Ball has had a stellar introduction to national league and international basketball, including two age-group Basketball World Cups and his two matches for the Tall Blacks in this year’s Asia Cup qualifiers.
He was also named the NBL’s Youth Player of the Year and the Most Improved Player, with an average of 19.9 points per game in a season that included 76 points in the first two outings, and the Hawks’ away win over eventual champions the Wellington Saints, despite not making the playoffs.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.