BASKETBALL
EUROLEAGUE
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
ADDING another to the trophy cabinet.
After just three months with the squad, Traralgon’s Jack White and FC Bayern Munich have been crowned champions of Germany.
Bayern won the Basketball Bundesliga playoffs, defeating Ratiopharm Ulm in a thrilling five games.
Losing two of the first three games of the final series, Bayern won the last two games of the season to capture silverware.
Avoiding a championship loss in Game 4, Bayern won convincingly, 67 to 53, away from home at Ratiopharm Arena, Neu-Ulm, with White adding five point and two rebounds.
In front of a sold-out home crowd of 11,500 fans, Bayern claimed the German trophy in a close 81-77 spectacle in Game 5.
Jo Voigtmann nailed two three-pointers in the final minute of play to see through the club’s seventh title, and their first since 2019.
Over the course of the series, White’s minutes consistently dropped, and played a season-low 11 minutes in the final game. He was scoreless with two rebounds.
Former NBA player and Basketball Bundesliga MVP Shabazz Napier finished with 15 points in the clinching win.
White opted out of his NBL contract with Melbourne United following on from their disappointing 2025 Grand Final series loss to Illawarra Hawks to pursue other options during the off-season.
While White could return to United for season 2025/26, he also hasn’t ruled out trying his luck at the NBA again.
With a NBA championship (2023), NBL title (2021, yet injured), and now European trophy under his belt, White has won in three different ranks – putting him in small company.
He last signed with Oklahoma City Thunder before the 2023/24 season (who at the time had Josh Giddey, whose mother, Kim, grew up in Morwell), after getting a ring with Denver Nuggets the season prior.
The Thunder recently won the NBA championship, defeating Indiana Pacers in seven games.
