Tai Jack Webster (born 29 May 1995) is a New Zealand professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL). Prior to playing

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

in the United States, Webster won a New Zealand NBL championship with the

Auckland Pirates The Auckland Pirates were a New Zealand basketball team based in Auckland. The Pirates competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at ASB Stadium. Team history In March 2011, the franchise was unveiled by Baske ...

in 2012 and an Australian NBL championship with the Breakers in 2013 as a development player. He played four college seasons for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

, earning second-team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

as a senior in 2017. He played professionally in Germany and Turkey between 2017 and 2020.

Early career

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, Webster attended

Westlake Boys High School Westlake Boys High School is a state secondary school for boys located in Forrest Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962, when Westlake High School (opened 1958) split into Westlake Girls High School on the existing site and We ...

where he led them to the National Secondary Schools Basketball Championships in October 2012, scoring 24 points en route to garnering tournament MVP honours. While attending Westlake, he played basketball for the North Harbour juniors; from 2010 to 2012, he played for the North Harbour U17s, U19s and U21s. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, Webster played for the

, where in two games, he recorded a total of two points and two assists.Player statistics for Tai Webster
/ref> The Pirates went on to win the 2012 championship with an 89–83 win over the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. Team history The Wellington Saints were founded in 1981. In 1 ...

in the grand final. In August 2012, Webster joined the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

as a non-contracted development player for the

2012–13 NBL season The 2012–13 NBL season was the 35th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams contested the league. The regular season was played between 5 October 2012 and 24 March 2013, followed by a post-season which invo ...

. In December 2012, he signed a National Letter of Intent to play

at the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...

. In April 2013, Webster signed with the

Waikato Pistons The Waikato Pistons were a New Zealand basketball team based in Hamilton. The Pistons competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at Hamilton Boys' High School. After sitting out the 2012 NBL season, the Pist ...

for the

2013 New Zealand NBL season The 2013 NBL season was the 32nd season of the National Basketball League. The 2013 season saw the withdrawal of the Auckland Pirates and Harbour Heat, but saw the return of the Waikato Pistons after a one-year hiatus as well as the Super City ...

. In 15 games for Waikato, he averaged 18.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He had never heard of Nebraska when he was recruited, but signed with the team anyway.

College career

Freshman year

As a freshman for the

in 2013–14, Webster was an immediate contributor, averaging 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 32 games (30 starts) while helping the Huskers reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. He led Nebraska with 63 assists and was also among the team leaders in steals. Webster reached double figures four times, including a season-high 14 points against Georgia, and paced the squad in assists eight times. His season-best was five assists on three occasions.

Sophomore year

As a sophomore in 2014–15, Webster emerged as one of for the Huskers , backing-up several starting guards Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields. He fell out of the rotation early in Big Ten play but found a role as the Huskers' energy guy off the bench and his improved defense showed in other facets of his game. In 30 games (four starts), he averaged 3.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.4 minutes per game. Webster called the season "hugely disappointing" since his work in practice did not translate to higher production than as a freshman. !

Junior year

As a junior in 2015–16, Webster joined the Nebraska starting lineup. He averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 27.7 minutes per game.

Senior year

As a senior in 2016–17, Webster averaged 17.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 34.7 minutes per game. Leading up to the NBA draft, many thought Webster could be a "second-round sleeper."

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

, 32 , , 30 , , 22.8 , , .304 , , .171 , , .619 , , 2.1 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 4 , , 18.4 , , .358 , , .231 , , .737 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 18 , , 27.7 , , .474 , , .350 , , .740 , , 4.1 , , 1.9 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 34.7 , , .421 , , .294 , , .744 , , 5.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 17.0 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 127 , , 83 , , 25.9 , , .414 , , .279 , , .715 , , 3.3 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 8.8 , -

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, Webster played for the Golden State Warriors during the

2017 NBA Summer League The 2017 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Eight teams participated in the wee ...

in Las Vegas. He later signed with the Skyliners Frankfurt in Germany for the 2017–18 season. He posted 14.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in his rookie season. On 7 August 2018, Webster signed with the Turkish team

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. He re-signed with Galatasaray on 7 August 2019. On 15 July 2020, Webster signed a one-year contract with the

, returning to the team for a second stint. On 9 April 2021, he was ruled out for four weeks with an

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

injury. Webster averaged 17.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game during the 2020–21 season. On 11 July 2021, Webster re-signed with the Breakers on a two-year deal. However, on 20 September 2021, he was released by the Breakers reportedly due to his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. On 2 November 2021, Webster signed with Lithuanian team Žalgiris Kaunas for the rest of the 2021–22 season. On 31 July 2022, Webster signed with

Petkim Spor Petkim Spor Kulübü, more commonly known as Socar Spor is a Turkish professional basketball club based in İzmir which currently competes in the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). The team was founded by Petkim in 2013 and got promoted to th ...

of the Turkish

Basketball Super League Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's ...

. He was released on 30 December 2022. On 2 January 2023, Webster signed with the

in Australia for the rest of the 2022–23 NBL season, with a mutual option for the 2023–24 season.

National team career

In 2012, Webster represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at the

FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament The FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, formerly known as the FIBA Pre-Olympic Basketball Tournament, is the last qualifying tournament for the Olympic Basketball Tournament. The best non-champions from the different FIBA World zones quali ...

, where he averaged 13.5 points per game. He went on to represent New Zealand at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , align="left" , 2021–22 , align="left" , Žalgiris , 21 , , 7 , , 12.5 , , .326 , , .222 , , .739 , , .9 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , .1 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan="2", Career , 21 , , 7 , , 12.5 , , .326 , , .222 , , .739 , , .9 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , .1 , , 4.0 , , 2.0

Personal

Webster is the son of Tony and Cherry Webster. Tony was a standout athlete in his own right, earning first team All-WAC honors at Hawaii in 1983 and ranking fourth on Hawaii’s career steals list before playing professionally in New Zealand. His older brother, Corey, also plays professional basketball and the pair have been teammates.

References

External links

Tai Webster
at euroleague.net (archive)
Tai Webster
at euroleaguebasketball.net
Tai Webster
at

realgm.com RealGM.com is a sports website created in 2000. The site was originally a basketball site, but has since expanded its scope to provide information about American football, baseball, ice hockey and soccer. According to Alexa, the site ranked in the ...

Tai Webster
at huskers.com
Tai Webster
at washingtonpost.com *
"Breakers eye Tai Webster"
at stuff.co.nz {{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Tai 1995 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Auckland Pirates players Basketball players from Auckland BC Žalgiris players Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in the United States New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Germany New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Lithuania New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Turkey New Zealand men's basketball players Perth Wildcats players Petkim Spor players Point guards Shooting guards Skyliners Frankfurt players Waikato Pistons players