Samuel Timmins (born 23 May 1997) 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

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 ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played

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 ...

for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

. In 2022, he helped the

Otago Nuggets The Otago Nuggets are a New Zealand basketball team based in Dunedin. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Edgar Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Night 'n Day Otago ...

win the New Zealand NBL championship.

Early life and career

Born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, Timmins moved to Southland as a youth and lived there while his father played for the Southland Stags rugby union team. He was heavily involved in rugby until he was 12 years old, playing as a lock and Number 8 for the Kaikorai club. He also played social basketball, but only began to take the game seriously after he and his family moved back to Dunedin, where he attended

Otago Boys' High School , motto_translation = "The ‘right’ learning builds a heart of oak" , type = State secondary, day and boarding , established = ; years ago , streetaddress= 2 Arthur Street , region = Dunedin , state = Otago , zipcod ...

. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, Timmins joined the

and made his NZNBL debut. At age 15, he became the youngest debutant in Nuggets history. A stress fracture in his back sidelined him for the entire 2014 season. That year, he led Otago Boys' High School to the National Schools Championship and was named tournament MVP. He also helped the Junior Tall Blacks come within three points of winning the Under-18 Oceania Championship final. In January 2015, following the collapse of the Otago Nuggets, Timmins moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

to play for the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as The Wheeler Motor Can ...

and attend

Middleton Grange School Middleton Grange School (abbreviated MGS) in Christchurch, New Zealand, is a state-integrated Christian co-educational Year 1 to 13 school. It's currently New Zealand's largest evangelical Christian school. History Established in 1964 by the C ...

. In his debut for the Rams, he had 20 points and nine rebounds. In 16 games during the 2015 season, he averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.

College career

On 29 April 2015, Timmins signed a

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

to play

for the

in 2016–17. He joined the Huskies in December 2015 and practiced and traveled with the team for the remainder of the 2015–16 season. As a freshman in 2016–17, Timmins saw action in 31 games including 18 starts and averaged 3.2 points and 3.8 rebounds while adding 20 blocks and shooting 48.9 percent from the field. He had a season-high 12 rebounds on two occasions, with his season high in points being 11. As a sophomore in 2017–18, Timmins started in all 34 games and averaged 4.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. He set a career high during the season with 13 points against Kennesaw State. As a junior in 2018–19, Timmins competed in all 36 games while shooting 62.0 percent from the field (31-50) and averaging 1.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. His minutes dropped from 18.0 per game as a sophomore to 10.4 per game as a junior. He had a season-high nine points against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, and had a season-best seven rebounds against

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

while also recording a career high-tying four blocks. As a senior in 2019–20, Timmins averaged a career-low 7.9 minutes per game to go with 2.0 points and 1.4 rebounds in 31 games.

Professional career

On 18 March 2020, Timmins signed with the

Franklin Bulls The Franklin Bulls are a New Zealand basketball team based in Pukekohe, Auckland. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are k ...

for the

2020 New Zealand NBL season The 2020 NBL season (officially known as the 2020 NBL Showdown) was the 39th season of the National Basketball League. The regular season was set to commence on Thursday 9 April and end on Sunday 12 July, with the finals then taking place betwe ...

. On 2 July 2020, he recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds in an 85–79 win over the

. He led the league in blocked shots with 1.9 per game. On 18 December 2020, Timmins signed in Estonia with Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ of the

Korvpalli Meistriliiga The Korvpalli Meistriliiga ( en, Basketball Champions League), known as the OlyBet Korvpalli Meistriliiga for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier level and most important professional basketball league in Estonia. It is controlled by the Es ...

and

Baltic Basketball League Baltic Basketball League (BBL) was the Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004. The league mainly focused on teams from the Baltic states, but teams from Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Belarus have participated in the Balti ...

. In six games, he averaged 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. After returning to New Zealand, he joined the Otago Nuggets for the

2021 New Zealand NBL season The 2021 NBL season was the 40th season of the National Basketball League. As a result of the modified, COVID-affected 2020 season, three of the top four teams in 2019 (Wellington Saints, Hawke's Bay Hawks and Southland Sharks) did not compete. ...

. On 15 May, he recorded 29 points and 25 rebounds in a 92–85 overtime win over the

Manawatu Jets The Manawatu Jets are a New Zealand basketball team based in Palmerston North. The Jets compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Central Energy Trust Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Pr ...

. On 10 June, he recorded 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists in a 95–82 win over the

. On 30 June 2021, Timmins signed with the

of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) on a one-year development contract, with a club option for a second year. On 15 April 2022, he was elevated to the full roster following the departure of

Yanni Wetzell Yannick Clemens Thomas Wetzell (born 8 July 1996) is a New Zealand professional basketball player for Alba Berlin of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the St. Mary's Rattlers, the Vand ...

. In 15 games during the

2021–22 NBL season The 2021–22 NBL season was the 44th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of ten teams are contesting in the 2021–22 season, which commenced on 3 December 2021. Australian broadcast rights to the ...

, he averaged 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Timmins re-joined the Nuggets for the

2022 New Zealand NBL season The 2022 NBL season is the 41st season of the National Basketball League. For the second year in a row, the league will field 10 teams, with the only changes being the rebrand of the Auckland Huskies to Auckland Tuatara and Taranaki Mountainairs ...

. On 28 April 2022, Timmins re-signed with the Breakers for the

2022–23 NBL season The 2022–23 NBL season was the 45th season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of ten teams contested in the 2022–23 season. Australian broadcast rights to the season are held by ESPN in the second se ...

National team career

In June 2015, Timmins helped New Zealand win the FIBA 3x3 Under-18 World Championship in Hungary. He was also a member of the

Tall Blacks The New Zealand men's national basketball team is the senior men's national basketball team of New Zealand. The team is nicknamed the Tall Blacks. The ''Tall Blacks'' name is one of many New Zealand national team nicknames related to the ...

extended squad in the lead up to the

2015 FIBA Oceania Championship The 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men was the 22nd edition of the tournament. The tournament featured a two-game series between Australia and New Zealand. It also served as the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for basketball at the ...

. On 12 July 2017, Timmins was invited to a six-day Tall Blacks camp in Auckland, ahead of a final 12-man roster being named to travel to the

FIBA Asia Cup The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, ge ...

in Lebanon, via preparation matches in China.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 31 , , 18 , , 14.5 , , .489 , , .286 , , .375 , , 3.8 , , .3 , , .4 , , .6 , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 18.0 , , .577 , , – , , .559 , , 4.6 , , .2 , , .4 , , 1.0 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 7 , , 10.4 , , .620 , , – , , .364 , , 2.2 , , .3 , , .3 , , .7 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 2 , , 7.9 , , .625 , , .375 , , .588 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , .2 , , .4 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 132 , , 61 , , 12.7 , , .563 , , .333 , , .500 , , 3.0 , , .2 , , .3 , , .7 , , 2.8

Personal life

Timmins is the son of Brendon and Karen Timmins, and has a sister named Ruby. His father played 74 games for the Otago rugby team and 42 games for the Highlanders, while his mother played netball for Southland. His grandmother, Sandra McGookin, was a six-time New Zealand javelin champion.

References

External links

FIBA.com profileCanterbury Rams player profileWashington Huskies bioGoHuskies.com interview"Slammin' Sam Timmins heads first wave of intake for groundbreaking 2020 NBL"
at stuff.co.nz
"Timmins returning for 3x3"
at odt.co.nz
"Timmins playing for team his heart is in"
at odt.co.nz {{DEFAULTSORT:Timmins, Sam 1997 births Living people Basketball players at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics BC Tallinn Kalev players Canterbury Rams players Centers (basketball) Franklin Bulls players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in the United States New Zealand men's basketball players Otago Nuggets players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Dunedin Washington Huskies men's basketball players