William McDowell-White


William McDowell-White is an Australian professional basketball player for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He is listed at 6'5" tall, and 185 lbs. in weight.

Early life

McDowell-White was born in Brisbane, into a family of Indigenous Australian descent. His father, Darryl, played Australian rules football at the professional level, for the Brisbane Lions, over a 14-year career, which included three AFL premierships and 268 senior games. William grew up playing Australian rules football for Coorparoo, and was placed in the Brisbane Lions talent academy, at the age of 13. Despite seemingly heading down the same career path as his father, William surprised many, when he decided to focus on basketball, and gave up playing football at the age of 15.
He played at the Nike Hoop Summit in 2016. McDowell-White also attended Fresno State University, alongside his Older brother Darryl, in 2016. However, Will would ultimately be ruled academically ineligible to play for the university's team, the Bulldogs.

Professional career

Sydney Kings

After being ruled academically ineligible at Fresno State University, it was announced in December 2016, that McDowell-White had signed to play with the Sydney Kings, in the 2016–17 season of Australia's NBL.

Brose Bamberg

McDowell-White signed a four-year deal with Brose Bamberg, of the Basketball Bundesliga, which is Germany's top division, in July 2017. He was later assigned to Baunach Young Pikes, the farm team of Brose Bamberg, for the 2017–18 season's German 2nd Division season. He was recalled to Brose Bamberg, on 17 December. In the 2017–18 season, while playing for Baunach, he was named the ProA Young Player of the Year.
On 30 March 2018, he declared for the 2018 NBA Draft. ESPN draft guru Jonathan Givony, ranked him 93rd out of 100 draft prospects, McDowell-White withdrew from the draft and plans to re-enter in the 2019 NBA Draft. He spent the 2018–19 season with Baunach, in German's 2nd Division. In February 2019, McDowell-White left Baunach, and returned home to Australia, where he prepared for the 2019 NBA Draft.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers

After failing to be drafted in the 2019 NBA draft, McDowell-White signed an Exhibit-10 contract with the Houston Rockets, and would go on to play for the Rockets in the 2019 NBA Summer League. He later had his contract converted to a two-way deal, a decision that was later reversed. On September 27, McDowell-White was waived by the Rockets to make room on their training camp roster for Ryan Anderson. McDowell-White was then added to the roster of the Rockets' NBA G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He suffered an injury in November and was inactive for several weeks.

National team career

McDowell-White competed at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, with Australia's Under-19 junior national team.