Jack White's unfinished business

Although Jack White has re-signed for Melbourne United for NBL25, his services at the club for the upcoming season are far from secure. The former Denver Nugget and Memphis Grizzly is chasing further NBA opportunities and, should one arise, he’ll be headed back Stateside to extend his NBA career.

White became a fan-favourite and star player during his first stint with the club. Also his rookie season was hobbled by a serious Achilles injury, he elevated his game to new heights to earn a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets following NBL22.

Melbourne has willingly released news of an NBA out-clause contained within White’s contract, while NBL24 starting power forward Luke Travers could also be lost to the club due to opportunities with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

United is a club that has prided itself on elevating its players to NBA-level over the past few seasons, and White says his deal with the club is a “win-win” for him.

“Melbourne’s always going to be my home in the NBL, that’s how I feel about it, and they’ve always been super supportive of me pursuing my goals in the NBA,” White said on Courtside Huddle.

“We won a championship a few years ago and I was a part of that, but I wasn’t on the court because I had torn my Achilles. Something that never really sat right with me and I always had it in the back of my head that I wanted to come back and be part of a championship winning team and be on the floor for it.

“The team, the club, the people, the city, have done so much for me and I love it here, and it’s close to home for me in Traralgon. I couldn’t be happier with a new deal and them supporting me in my pursuit of NBA contracts to try and play at the highest level, but at the same time if that doesn’t work out, I couldn’t be happier to be back here in the NBL with United.

“I couldn’t be more fortunate with the opportunities I’ve had either way, pursuing the NBA stuff or being back here in the NBL.”

White’s career to date has been far from standard. He captained the likes of NBA stars Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, but he never averaged more than 4.1 points per game in any of his four seasons with the powerhouse school.

While you can’t forget about his season as a development player with the Cairns Taipans prior to his college career, he commenced his professional career with Melbourne and, after 11 games, ruptured his Achilles.

He then returned to action and was a key cog in the Melbourne side that suffered a surprise semi-final defeat to Tasmania in NBL22, and then the NBA came calling.

White says his greatest goal for his immediate future is to see just how high he can take his game.

“The basketball career is such a finite thing and it’s really the experience I’m trying to chase now,” he said.

“I want to see how good I can get with the game, I’m about to turn 27 so I’m sort of entering what people believe is the prime time for individual performance.

“My career, it’s kind of been a bit of a rollercoaster. My path to the NBA wasn’t a stock standard one, I didn’t have the greatest individual college career but still had an incredible experience at Duke and getting a taste of that level, and then coming to the NBL and having a great opportunity to learn from guys like Chris (Goulding), (Dave) Barlow, Shea Ili, I could go on and on about the guys I’ve had the privilege of playing with.

“Then things falling into place ending up with the Nuggets, what an experience that was being at the right place at the right time and being part of such a great group.

“Having been fortunate enough to experience great things in team environments and trying to push how good I could be individually; I want that to impact winning at the highest level I can.”