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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the Southland Sharks of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

. In 2022, he helped the

Otago Nuggets The Otago Nuggets are a New Zealand professional men's 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 ...

win the NZNBL championship.

Early life and career

Timmins was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. His father, Brendon Timmins, played rugby in

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

during the 1990s and in Southland in the early 2000s. While living in Southland, Sam played rugby for Eastern Hawks and Star. When he was 11 years old, his family moved to Japan after his father became a rugby coach for the Mitsubishi Sagamihara DynaBoars. Back in Dunedin, he was heavily involved in rugby until age 12, playing as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

and Number 8 for the Kaikorai club. He grew up playing social basketball, but only began to take the game seriously after arriving at

Otago Boys' High School Otago Boys' High School (OBHS) is a secondary school in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is one of New Zealand's oldest boys' secondary schools. Originally known as Dunedin High School, it was founded on 3 August 1863 and moved to its present site in 18 ...

. 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 ...

, Timmins joined the

and made his New Zealand National Basketball League (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 (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

to play for the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand professional men's 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 Th ...

and attend Middleton Grange School. 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 The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play

for the

in 2016–17. He joined the Huskies in December 2015 and practiced and travelled 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 per cent 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 per cent from the field (31-of-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 land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and had a season-best seven rebounds against

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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 for the 2020 New Zealand NBL season. 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 (KML) is the top-tier men's basketball league in Estonia. The league is organized by the Estonian Basketball Association and played under rules of basketball#International Rules of Basketball, FIBA rules. The competitio ...

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 Belarus, officially the Rep ...

. 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. 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 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 ...

. 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

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) 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. 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 contested the 2021–22 season, which commenced on 3 December 2021. Australian broadcast rights to the season ...

, he averaged 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Timmins re-joined the Nuggets for the 2022 New Zealand NBL season and helped the team win the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. On 28 April 2022, Timmins re-signed with the Breakers for the 2022–23 NBL season. Timmins re-joined the Nuggets for the 2023 New Zealand NBL season. On 20 July 2023, Timmins signed with the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

for the 2023–24 NBL season. He missed the start of the season with a calf strain. Timmins joined the Franklin Bulls for the

2024 New Zealand NBL season The 2024 NBL season was the 43rd season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to 11 teams in 2024 with the Tauranga Whai joining the league for the first time. The 2024 season saw the return of a pre-season blitz for the ...

. On 24 June 2024, Timmins signed with Tryhoop Okayama of the Japanese B.League. Timmins joined the Southland Sharks for the 2025 New Zealand NBL season.

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 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 FIBA Oceania Championship. The tournament featured a two-game series between Australia and New Zealand. It also served as the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for b ...

. 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. Through the 2015 edition, the t ...

in Lebanon, via preparation matches in China. In July 2023, Timmins was named in the Tall Blacks squad for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He re-joined the Tall Blacks for qualifiers in February 2024.

Career statistics

College

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

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 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 Brendon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Brendon and Countisbury, in the North Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is close to the border with Somerset within the Exmoor National Park, the village is ...

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) Expatriate basketball people in Estonia 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 People educated at Otago Boys' High School Power forwards Southland Sharks players Sportspeople from Dunedin Sydney Kings players Tryhoop Okayama players Washington Huskies men's basketball players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen