Citizenship watch for young star

A 23-year-old defensive weapon is creating waves amongst NBL teams looking for a back-up point guard, as NBA Summer League continues in Las Vegas.

“Sam Hoiberg is someone who’s endeavouring to get his Australian citizenship,” ESPN’s Olgun Uluc reported.

“He’s the son of Fred Hoiberg, former NBA head coach, currently the head coach of Nebraska, that’s where Sam did his thing.

“He’s a six-foot point guard… really good defensive player.”

Hoiberg was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive team last season as a redshirt senior and now looks to begin his professional career.

“He is playing for the Phoenix Suns here at Summer League and there were a lot of NBL teams who were in the building to watch that game specifically.

“Whether it was to watch him or to watch others, I don’t know, because I know there was one team watching a guard on the opposing team.”

Hoiberg’s potential to become Australian raised eyebrows in the NBL, when his father spoke about it during a press conference last season.

“One really cool thing about Sam is… my wife was born in Australia,” he said.

“Sam could have the opportunity… Carol got her passport a couple of weeks ago… and we started the citizenship process for Sam to be able to play as a native over there, so he’s going to have options.”

Brisbane's backup big man Jacob Holt was in a similar position this time last year, when former Bullets assistant coach Greg Vanderjagt discovered he was able to get his Australian passport and play as a local.

“There’s some questions on whether Sam will be able to get his citizenship in time for this coming season, but I think at least from next season … Sam Hoiberg could be Australian,” Uluc added.

“He’s in the process of getting his citizenship, but as we’ve known across the NBL, it’s very difficult to get that over the line, but he is doing his best.”

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