South Sudan superstar heads to Far North Queensland

The Cairns Taipans have signed former Sydney Kings development player and South Sudanese international point guard Jackson Makoi to a one-year deal.

Makoi initially joined the Kings ahead of their title winning NBL23 run, however after 15 appearances a serious knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign, and forced him to miss South Sudan’s first ever FIBA World Cup appearance.

He burst onto the scene at AfroBasket 2021 as the Bright Stars made the quarter-finals in their first ever international tournament, where they were eventually knocked out by Tunisia.

The 23-year-old also played high school basketball in the USA with Croatian side Vrijednosnice Osijek prior to his arrival in the NBL.

“Jackson will come in to be our backup point guard this season," head coach Adam Forde said. "Like Taran Armstrong, Jackson is a talented point guard who has a good ability to navigate screens on the defensive end, and attack downhill on offence. "

“He’ll contribute to our pace and speed in which we want to play at.

“Not too many Taipan fans will know about Jackson after he had an interrupted season recovering from an ACL injury. 
 
“But he has experience playing internationally in Croatia, won a championship with Sydney, and now preparing to represent South Sudan on an Olympic stage in Paris. Pretty impressive for a guy at only 23."