Jack jumping for joy as Olympics looms

Australian basketball has boomed since that famous bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and Brian Goorjian and his team again faced an incredibly difficult task choosing a final squad of 12 for Paris.

Young stars Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels climbed the ranks in the NBA in recent years, older veterans like Patty Mills and Joe Ingles are still going strong and the NBL continues to thrive, putting more and more players on the radar for selection. 

There was always going to be some controversy around who made the final team, but no one could argue Tasmania JackJumpers' stars Jack McVeigh and Will Magnay were anything but thoroughly deserving of a place at the Olympics.

McVeigh says basketball in Australia has never been stronger, and that only drives players at all levels to perform and push themselves to be better.

“There’s a reason we’ve got so many NBA players, there’s a reason that right now the NBL is growing at a rapid rate, there’s a reason that there’s these young guys coming up,” McVeigh explained on his podcast, 'Shooters!', alongside NBL Media's Darren Barker. 

“They‘re talking NBA drafts, there’s a reason guys are coming into the NBL Next Stars program, there’s a reason that when you’re looking at the top ten power rankings in the world for basketball countries, Australia is always in it.

“There was a locked set of five or six guys that you knew were gonna be in the team, but everyone else is fighting, scrapping, competing, and battling for these last spots, while trying to build the culture of the team, while trying to get to know each other, while trying to put into systems of how to win games, what we’re going to look like in Paris, and working towards.”

Those emotional scenes of McVeigh and Magnay receiving the news they'd made the team have gone viral, a moment to remember for two NBL stars. 

McVeigh expressed his gratitude knowing he'll become an Olympian in just a few weeks' time. 

“I’m definitely grateful I’m part of the team, and there were a lot of good basketball players,” he said.

“I’ve definitely never been part of anything in which there’s 17 guys at camp, team gets picked to 12 ... I’ve never been part of something where anyone could make it, where you can make arguments for anyone.”

Dreams coming true ✨

🎥: @basketballaus IG/nelsonkahlervisuals IG/australianboomers pic.twitter.com/90v9mJlNec

— NBL (@NBL) July 8, 2024

McVeigh and the Boomers will face Serbia and the USA in two exhibition games in Abi Dhabi on the 16th and 17th of July, with the first Olympic matchup against Spain on the 27th.

“I'm excited ... I just want to test myself. That's what I love doing,” McVeigh added.

“That's that I want to do not just on the court, but off the court as well and in all parts of my life.”