Hawke’s Bay Hawks 16-year-old Jackson Ball making a rapid rise through the NBL

Jackson Ball, with ball, in the last second of the Hawks' 105-74 win over Whai. Photo / Paul Taylor

He could be the youngest player in the national men’s basketball league and Napier Boys’ High School pupil Jackson Ball has the name to go with the game.

But it’s much more than that, the 1.92 metres tall player is so enmeshed in the game he thinks of little else.

When asked if it’s been his whole life, saying “Oh yeah”.

He’s taking in all the milestones as they come, including the last-second three-pointer that completed the Taylor Hawks 105-74 win on Wednesday night over Sal’s NBL newcomers and Tauranga side Whai at the Pettigrew Green Arena, Taradale.

It was his first, a milestone to go with his first minute and his first point in the league debut with almost half the 40 minutes in the opening match 21-points loss to Whai in Tauranga on March 28 - just 18 days after his 16th birthday.

He’s already become near first call off the bench for new Hawks coach Sam Gruggen. And there was no change to the plan this week as he made his sixth appearance in six games to date, with a total of over 60 minutes on-court, with now another milestone in a moment of payback – a 51 points reversal in the Battle of the Bays.

The Hawks’ third century gave them a 50/50 record, and seventh place on the ladder passing the third-way stage travelling to Auckland to play third-placed Tuatara on Saturday night.

A key player also in the baby-Hawks, flying high in the new curtainraiser basketball of the Rapid League – a 32-27 win over Whai on Wednesday being the fifth in six games - Ball has not missed a game in either league yet, but he will eventually, even if not till the three he will miss while playing for New Zealand in the June 29-July 7 Under 17 Fiba World Cup in Turkey.

He’ll return in time to, hopefully, see the Hawks into and through the playoffs, and getting back to what a 1.92m-tall, 16-year-old Napier basketballer might be normally focusing on – the national secondary schools boys’ championships in Palmerston North on September 30-October 3.

He trained with the Hawks last year, when he also played for New Zealand in the Under 16 Asian Championships in Qatar, and with the departure of most of last season’s top players, has found himself playing a more senior role NBL this season than he might have envisaged, and was named in the All Star 4 after the 3x3national tournament in Dunedin.

He hasn’t had to do a lot of scoring, which on Wednesday night was safely done by the starting line-up of New Zealand-eligible Australian player Keanu Rasmussen, Americans Josh Roberts, Lucas Sutherland and Isaiah Moore and captain and Tall Blacks star Jordan Ngatai, who each hit double figures.

Rasmussen had the game-high of 27pts and Roberts shot 23, but Ball did cough up five points, all in the last minutes, from a two-point lay-up and then his finishing touch, with mum Cheree watching from the timekeeping bench.

He still has another year (2025) to go at high school, but the dream is to play American College first division basketball in the US, and “go pro”.

Asked what he might have been doing for a career otherwise, he said: “I have no idea.”

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.