Corey Webster (born 29 November 1988) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Manawatu Jets The Manawatu Jets are a New Zealand professional men's 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 ...

of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He joined the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) for the first time in 2008 after a season of

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in the United States for Lambuth University, and won championships with the club in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He has also been a regular in the New Zealand NBL, winning championships with the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as ...

in 2011, 2014 and 2017, and with the Canterbury Rams in 2023. He has had stints in Serbia, Greece, Israel, China, Italy and Egypt, winning the 2023 BAL championship with Al Ahly.

Early and college career

Webster attended Westlake Boys High School in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, and played junior basketball for North Harbour Basketball Association. He moved to the United States in 2007 and played a season of

for Lambuth University of the NAIA. He averaged 11.5 points per game and was named the TSAC Freshman of the Year.

Professional career

Australian NBL

New Zealand Breakers

In June 2008, Webster joined the

of the Australian NBL for the first time, signing as a development player. He spent two seasons as a development player before joining the full-time roster ahead of the 2010–11 season. He won his first championship with the Breakers that season before missing the 2011–12 season due to a drug violation. The Breakers brought him back on a three-year deal ahead of the 2012–13 season and won his second NBL championship that season. He averaged a then career-high 8.5 points per game during the 2013–14 season. The 2014–15 season saw Webster develop into one of the league's premier scorers as he moved to a starting role and averaged a team-best 15.3 points per game, including scoring a career-high 24 points in the first semi-final against the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

. He helped the Breakers win their fourth title in five years. After re-signing with the Breakers on a three-year deal, Webster's 2015 off-season saw him attend a pre-draft tryout with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and later spent

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

preseason with the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

. With the Breakers in 2015–16, Webster scored a career-high 39 points in November and helped the team return to the NBL Grand Final series, where they lost to the Perth Wildcats. He earned All-NBL Second Team honours after he finished second in scoring with 21.09 points per game during the regular season. After missing the second half of the 2016–17 NBL season due to a hip injury, Webster was released by the Breakers in March 2017. He subsequently played for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

during the 2017 NBA Summer League. On 24 May 2018, Webster returned to the Breakers on another three-year deal. He started the 2018–19 NBL season strong, but had a form slump in December that saw him present as a shadow of the figure who was once a premier scorer in the league. He returned to form in the 2019–20 NBL season, averaging 19.5 points in 11 games, before being bought out of his contract in December in order to sign in China. Webster re-joined the Breakers for the 2020–21 NBL season, but he missed the first two weeks of the season after slicing a nerve in his hand with a knife in his kitchen. He was later sidelined for four weeks with a knee injury. On 20 August 2021, Webster parted ways with the Breakers.

Perth Wildcats

On 30 March 2017, Webster signed a two-year deal with the Perth Wildcats. However, he soon requested a release from his contract, which was granted by the Wildcats on 13 July 2017. On 15 June 2022, Webster reunited with the Wildcats on a two-year deal. On 12 December 2022, in his 250th NBL game, he hit the game-winning 3-pointer to lift the Wildcats to a 90–89 win over Melbourne United. On 3 May 2023, Webster re-signed with the Wildcats on a new two-year deal. After playing 27 minutes per game in 2022–23, he fell out of favour in 2023–24 to average 13 minutes per game. The Wildcats did not pick up their team option on his contract for the 2024–25 season.

New Zealand NBL

Webster debuted in the New Zealand NBL in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, playing two seasons for the Harbour Heat. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, he joined the

and helped them win the championship. His second season with the Saints came in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, he won the league MVP and another championship with the Saints. He spent the 2016 season with the Super City Rangers. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

with the Saints, he won his second MVP award and third championship. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, he played for the Franklin Bulls. He joined the Canterbury Rams in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

and won his fourth NZNBL championship. He joined the Auckland Tuatara for the 2024 season. He is set to join the

for the 2025 season.

Overseas

Following both the 2014–15 and 2015–16 NBL seasons, Webster played in Europe. He played in Serbia in 2015 with Mega Leks and in Greece in 2016 with Koroivos. Webster played the 2017–18 season in Israel for Ironi Nahariya. He won the Three-Point Shootout during the league's All-Star Event. Following the Israeli season, he joined the Guizhou Shenghang Snow Leopards of the Chinese NBL. In December 2019, Webster returned to China to play for the

Zhejiang Lions The Zhejiang Guangsha Lions () are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, which plays in the North Division of the Chinese Basketball Association. Guangsha is the name of the club's corporate sponsor, but to prevent con ...

in the CBA. He played in seven games before leaving China on 3 February 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He moved to Italy later that month to play for Virtus Roma of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

, but that

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was also cut short due to the pandemic. He appeared in just one game for Roma. Webster played the 2021–22 season in Egypt for Al Ittihad. In February 2023, Webster joined KK Mornar Bar of the Montenegrin League for the rest of the 2022–23 season. He returned to Egypt in April 2023 and joined Al Ahly. He helped Al Ahly win the Basketball Africa League championship for the 2023 season. He scored 13 points in the 80–65 win over Douanes in the final.

National team career

Webster joined the

New Zealand national basketball team The New Zealand men's national basketball team () represents New Zealand in international basketball competitions. The team is governed by Basketball New Zealand. The team's official nickname is the Tall Blacks (). Over their history, New Zeal ...

for the first time in 2008 at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He later played for New Zealand at the 2009 FIBA Oceania Championship,

2013 FIBA Oceania Championship The 2013 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men was the 21st edition of the FIBA Oceania Championship. The tournament featured a two-game series between Australia men's national basketball team, Australia and New Zealand national basketball team, New Z ...

, 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, 2015 FIBA Oceania Championship and

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

. Webster played his 100th game for the Tall Blacks in February 2025.

Personal life

Webster is the son of Tony and Cherry Webster. Tony, who is from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, was a standout basketball player in his own right, earning first-team All-WAC honours at Hawaii in 1983 and ranking fourth on Hawaii's career steals list before playing professionally in New Zealand. Webster's younger brother, Tai, played four years of

for the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and has played professionally in New Zealand and Europe.

References

External links

NBL profile

NBL stats (2008–2015)

NZNBL stats

"Take 40: Corey Webster"
at nbl.com.au
"Corey Webster invited to NBA camp"
at nbl.com.au * {{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Corey 1988 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Al Ittihad Alexandria Club basketball players Auckland Tuatara basketball players Basketball League of Serbia players Basketball players from Auckland Canterbury Rams players Franklin Bulls players Harbour Heat players Ironi Nahariya players KK Mega Basket players KK Mornar Bar players Koroivos B.C. players Lambuth Eagles men's basketball players Manawatu Jets players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Serbia New Zealand men's basketball players New Zealand people of African-American descent Virtus Roma players Perth Wildcats players Point guards Shooting guards Super City Rangers players Wellington Saints players Zhejiang Lions players Guizhou White Tigers players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen