There was a player who languished on the sidelines of the Nebraska Cornhuskers throughout the 2017–18 season. He had his sixth man responsibilities stripped from him for no real apparent reason; he had averaged 7.5 points per game in 2016–17 on decent shooting percentages but maybe the coach saw better potential in other options. Circumstances had required him to overcome an unlikely path to get here but this was seemingly where the end was destined to be. He averaged 1.9 points in 7.5 minutes per game and decided to leave.

There was a player who languished on the sidelines of the Adelaide 36ers throughout the 2020–21 season. He had been there for two seasons and shown steady improvement: almost doubling his points per game from 3.6 as a rookie to 6.0 as a sophomore. He deserved the chance at a starting position for his third year but the team instead brought over an aging American import who played his position and took up most of his minutes. He still averaged 9.4 points per game but it should have been more. The 36ers did not want to re-sign him so he decided to leave.

There is a player on the sidelines of the Houston Rockets who should not really have ever been here. He still made it though. There were some uneducated assumptions that he would be cut in December but he has lasted until at least January. He has appeared in 6 games this season for a total of 21 minutes and an average of 1.3 points on sub-30% shooting but it seems like the Rockets have a belief in him; he has appeared in more games than the other two players that the team has on two-way contracts. Regardless, he is here. It would have seemed implausible for him to be in this position at any point during his early career.

It would not have been any great stretch to imagine that Jack McVeigh could have given up a long time ago. He was left on the bench for his entire collegiate career and then the first three years of his professional career for no discernible reason and in contrast to the abilities that he did showcase when he was on the court. Those abilities were the standard methods of success for “underrated” players: scoring ability, hustle desire and unreserved energy.

It was through his brief appearances on the court during his rookie season with my hometown 36ers that McVeigh first won me over. He formed a pair of rookies alongside fellow collegiate castoff Harry Froling that were believed in by head coach Joey Wright. Their form of arrival ended up being their only connection. Froling averaged 7.9 points in 13.7 minutes per game that season in contrast to McVeigh with his 2.7 points in 7.2 minutes. While Froling would be substituted in with an evident nonchalance knowing his size would result in a quick basket, McVeigh would enter with a determined stare that contrasted his relatively awkward gait. He was a little skinnier then and still looked unsure how exactly to function with his body. The air of uncertainty would vanish when he or his teammates would score a goal and he would instantly transform into an aura of encouragement, confidence and celebration. It was mature for a rookie at the bottom of the depth chart to be handling himself in this way.

Froling was selected as Rookie of the Year for the season; the surefire next big thing that the 36ers need. Unfortunately for Froling, he received such an accolade on what is a cursed team by all means and his abilities, output and playing time plateaued in 2019–20. McVeigh had his minutes doubled and saw his points double as a result. When Froling left for apparent better pastures, McVeigh stayed for what should have been his breakout season. He should have had that starting position in 2020–21. The 36ers instead signed a 33-year-old Tony Crocker who was essentially the less effective, older and American equivalent of Jack McVeigh. Sat on the bench and left to watch his counterpart do essentially everything that he could have been doing instead, McVeigh would have been idealising an escape plan which was only aided when the 36ers fired Wright in 2021 and resolved to not bring back any of his connections.

McVeigh instead found a team that was made for him. It surely seemed named for him anyway. He signed with the Tasmania JackJumpers when they joined the league in 2021 and easily assumed that leader role he exemplified when he was nowhere near the man in charge. The team deserved someone like him and – by that point – McVeigh deserved a team that believed in him undoubtedly too. He received that starting spot that he should have had at the 36ers and held it for the next three seasons. McVeigh led the team to the grand final series in his first season in 2022 and then to their first championship in 2024. He followed by joining the Australian team at the 2024 Olympics and then used the strength of that performance to sign a two-way contract with the Rockets.

In the final seconds of game 3 in the 2024 NBL finals, the JackJumpers trailed Melbourne United 90–91. The series was tied 1–1; a United win here would have made the series 1–2 and they would have had the chance to go to Tasmania and win the championship. With 8.1 seconds left, Matthew Dellavedova of United was given inbounding duties and simply had to pass the ball to a teammate where the standard chain of events would follow: JackJumpers foul, United hit free throws, JackJumpers get a quick shot, JackJumpers foul, and repeat. He instead threw it over the top of an essentially double-teamed Chris Goulding and gave the JackJumpers’ Milton Doyle an opportunity to make an incredibly athletic leap that captured possession. Sure enough, everybody on the court had been lulled by the anticipation that the ball was going out-of-bounds until Doyle soared through the air and threw it to the first person to react to his dynamism: Jack McVeigh. Head coach Scott Roth waves him up the court. There is no timeout left so whatever happens here is purely a creation of the moment and determines victors, celebrations and destiny. McVeigh dribbles up the court in his hunched posture; enough to invoke a reminder that he made this all work without ever really overcoming that little awkwardness in his body. He does not once glance at his teammates that are running alongside and ahead of him. The ball could not have been in hands more able than this. This was where his paths had led him. The bench stints were long behind him now. Any feeling he had of not belonging would have been left to wilt along with the expectations of anyone who thought it should have been any different. A few steps over the half-court line with 3 seconds remaining, McVeigh pulls up and shoots.

McVeigh was interviewed after his heroics: “I just want one more, man. I want to win this bad, come on. I just wanted to shoot it, baby. I just want one more. I’m gonna have to go home and relax for a little bit, text my loved ones, then hopefully talk some trash and bring my head back down and we go home to get this thing done.”

One more shot. One more opportunity. One more belief.

“That’s what sport is about … just one more.”