Australian forward Jack White has signed a two-year deal with Melbourne United, the team announced on Wednesday evening.
The deal sees White return to a United roster he spent two seasons with between 2020-2022, playing a primary role in the team winning the 2021 NBL Championship and finishing atop the league's regular season ladder in both campaigns.
There's a player option on the second year of the deal, which also includes an NBA-out clause. The NBA out in the contract includes if White has a two-way contract offer, sources told ESPN.
White - a 6'6 forward - averaged 9.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game over the 2021-22 season with United, and leveraged his impressive play in the NBL to earn a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets. He primarily played in the G-League with the Grand Rapids Gold, but still appeared in 17 games for the Nuggets, who would go on to win an NBA Championship.
White, 26, played for the South Bay Lakers - the Los Angeles Lakers' G-League affiliate - for the majority of the 2023-24 season, before signing a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies as the NBA regular season came to an end.
"We think he's going to be a magnificent asset for us," United head coach Dean Vickerman said.
"We're incredibly proud of Jack and the journey he has taken across his career so far. To have been a player that we worked with in his college days, to then playing here and being a big part of our championship team in NBL21, to then chase his dreams and win an NBA Championship with Denver, it's been a remarkable journey so far.
"We've seen him expand his game in the G League, playing some really good basketball at the 5 while still being able to guard every position on the court."
The signing of White is a further indication that United is expecting to be without Luke Travers for the 2024-25 NBL season. Travers just completed the first season of a three-year deal with United, but the team entered free agency with the assumption that he'd likely depart Australia for some sort of deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who drafted him in 2022. White and Travers - while both big, versatile forwards - ostensibly play the same position, so this is effectively a like-for-like swap.
"The greatest improvement we've seen is in his shot and the confidence in the way he can get it off from deep," Vickerman said of White. He's going to be an easy addition to our group because of his versatility.
"In his time away he's had to adjust quickly to changing lineups so he's developed a really great ability to effectively play a role no matter what the scenario is."
The improvement in White's shooting is demonstrable. In his final season with United, he shot 24.4% from beyond the three-point line, on just 1.6 attempts a game. Since then, over White's two seasons in the G-League, he was a 37.3% three-point shooter, on 4.3 attempts a game.
The Traralgon, Victoria native was a member of the Australian Boomers team that competed at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, and has been named to the 22-man extended squad ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
"Jack has been a big part of what we've done within this organisation in his time here previously," fellow Boomer and United captain, Chris Goulding, said.
"Spending time with him last year at the World Cup, I think he's only gotten better and I can imagine that growth has continued across his time in the G League and NBA last year, so I'm excited to see an even better version of Jack White on the court in NBL25.
"He's always been able to shoot the ball at a really high level, and looking at the way he's progressed with his shooting in his time away from the club, I think he's going to be even more ready to shoot the ball with confidence when we need it."
United is coming off a season where they finished atop the regular season ladder with a 20-8 record, but fell to the Tasmania JackJumpers in five games in the Championship Series.
White joins Goulding, Matthew Dellavedova, Shea Ili, Luke Travers, Kyle Bowen, Flynn Cameron, Tanner Krebs, and Rob Loe as contracted players on United ahead of the 2024-25 NBL season.