Venky Jois


Venkatesha "Venky" Jois is an Australian professional basketball player for the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He played four years of college basketball for Eastern Washington before playing professionally in Estonia, Croatia, Japan and Germany.

Early life

Jois was born in the Melbourne suburb of Upper Ferntree Gully. He attended Box Hill High School, where he participated in basketball, swimming, soccer, Australian rules football, cross country and athletics. He graduated in 2011. In 2011 and 2012, he played in the SEABL for the Dandenong Rangers, winning SEABL Youth Player of the Year honours in his first season after averaging 9.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

College career

Jois played four years of college basketball for Eastern Washington, winning Big Sky Freshman of the Year honours in 2012–13. He also garnered All-Big Sky honorable mention accolades in his first two seasons. As a junior and senior, he earned first-team All-Big Sky honours. He also earned All-Tournament team honours after helping Eastern Washington win the 2015 Big Sky Tournament. In 122 career games, Jois made 120 starts and averaged 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 blocks in 32.2 minutes per game.

Professional career

Jois spent his first professional season in Estonia, playing for Tartu Ülikooli during the 2016–17 season. He then split the 2017–18 season between Vrijednosnice Osijek in Croatia and Shiga Lakestars in Japan. After starting the 2018–19 season in Germany with Rasta Vechta, he left in November 2018. On 26 January 2019, he signed with Melbourne United for the rest of the 2018–19 NBL season. On 3 April 2019, he signed with the Super City Rangers for the 2019 New Zealand NBL season. On 2 June 2019, Jois suffered a severe hand injury in a game against the Southern Huskies. On 29 June 2019, he parted ways with the Rangers. In October 2019, he joined the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He missed two months with an undisclosed injury. Jois averaged 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game in 18 games.