Jack White is the 7th Aussie NBA champion. Photo: Twitter. Source: Twitter Jack White celebrates with the champagne goggles on. Photo: Instagram @mpocius Source: Instagram Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Patty Mills, Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova are the only other Australians to win an NBA championship.
White also joins Gaze and American Ian Clark as the only players to win an NBL title and an NBA ring following his triumph with Melbourne United in 2021.
The 25-year-old was on hand in Denver to celebrate the Nuggets’ breakthrough championship and was spotted posing with the Larry O’Brien trophy and wearing champagne goggles.
It’s unclear if White will receive a championship ring given he wasn’t on Denver’s main roster for the playoffs.
The championship filled the final gap in the impressive resume of Denver’s Serbian star Nikola Jokic, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and five-time All-Star centre in his eighth NBA campaign.
According to ESPN, Jokic is the first player in NBA history to lead all players in points, rebounds and assists in a single post-season. He is also the first player drafted outside the top-15 to win both Finals MVP and regular season MVP.
The Denver Nuggets have won their first NBA title. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images “It was amazing effort by the team,” Jokic said.
“It was an ugly game. We couldn’t make shots. But at the end we figured it out, how to defend and we scored 90 points. That’s why we won. I’m just happy we won the game.
“It’s good. The job is done and we can go home now.”
Denver was the playoff top seed in the Western Conference while the Heat had to win a play-in game just to reach the playoffs but then upset NBA wins leader Milwaukee, New York and Boston to advance to the finals.
Michael Porter Jr. added 16 points and 13 rebounds and Jamal Murray added 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets.
With AFP
