Makur Maker signs with the Hawks pending league approval

The 25-year-old South Sudanese-Australian mobile big arrives in Wollongong to bolster a frontcourt stretched thin, with Todd Blanchfield and Mason Peatling both sidelined through injury. He brings 210 centimetres of length, an NBL championship ring, and a basketball road that has wound through more countries than most players see in a career.

Because he's Australian, he doesn't take up an import spot, so the club's search for its next import continues.

It's been quite a ride for a kid who started out as a soccer striker.

The Kid Everyone Wanted

Maker was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to South Sudanese parents. His family moved to Perth when he was one. Basketball wasn't the first love. He played striker for Quinns Football Club alongside his older brothers and spent his spare time playing beach soccer with mates.

Then he kept growing. And basketball came looking.

In 2015, he left Perth for Chaminade College Prep in Los Angeles, which meant years living away from his family. Stops in Ontario, Orange County and Irvine followed. A foot injury wiped out his entire 2017/18 season. He kept going anyway.

By 2020, Maker was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top centres in his class, ranked 16th overall by ESPN and 18th by both Rivals and 247Sports. UCLA wanted him. Kentucky wanted him. Memphis wanted him. He chose Howard.

That decision made him the highest-ranked recruit to commit to a historically black college or university in the modern recruiting era, and he made it partly to encourage future prospects to follow. It said something about him. It still does.

A injury shut him down after just two college games, in which he averaged 11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds. Not the script anyone wrote. But it brought him home.

A Ring, Then the World

In August 2021, Maker signed with the Sydney Kings as an NBL Next Star. He played 21 games that season, averaging 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 15:48 a night, shooting 45.2 per cent from the field, 34.1 per cent from three and 77.9 per cent from the line. His best NBL nights produced career highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Real minutes. And a front-row seat to a championship.

That Kings side won the NBL22 title, and Hawks fans will remember how: by ending Illawarra's season in the semi-final along the way.

Funny how this league works. The ring he won partly at Illawarra's expense now comes to Wollongong.

What followed was a professional education few players get. Undrafted in 2022, he joined the Chicago Bulls for Summer League, signed with the Washington Wizards, and landed with the Capital City Go-Go in the G League. In the summer of 2023, he went to China with the Liaoning Arctic Wolves and dominated, averaging 28.1 points and 11.2 rebounds in 32.8 minutes a night.

The Toronto Raptors signed him that October. He moved on to Raptors 905.

Then came the Middle East. With Al-Ittihad Jeddah, he averaged 16.3 points and 12.1 rebounds across nine games in the FIBA West Asia Super League Gulf League. In September 2025, he suited up for Libya's Al Ahli Tripoli at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore, posting 13.7 points and 9.7 rebounds as the club won bronze, the first African team ever to finish on the podium. A stint with Sagesse followed before he signed with the Taipei Taishin Mars in January 2026.

On the international stage, he has represented South Sudan, averaging 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds across three games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 African Qualifiers.

Basketball runs in the family, too. Maker is the cousin of Thon and Matur Maker.

Why This Signing Matters

"Makur is a signing we're really excited about. He's still only 25, but he's already experienced a lot in basketball: from being one of the highest-rated young prospects in the world entering College, winning an NBL championship with Sydney and spending time in the NBA G League," Mat Campbell said.

"At 6'11", his combination of length, mobility and skill gives us something different, and we think our environment is a great place for him to take another step.

"Makur comes to us hungry, with something to prove, and that fits exactly with who we are as a club.

What's Ahead

Blanchfield and Peatling out means minutes up front, and somebody has to earn them. Maker has spent five years proving he can walk into a new locker room, in a new country, and produce.

Now he gets to do it close to home. Something to prove, and a city that likes nothing better than a player who plays like it.

BE ONE OF US TOO

Hungry, long and back in the NBL with something to prove, he's one of us from today.

Sixteen home games, all season, right here in Wollongong.

However you follow the Hawks, there's a membership built for you. Full Season gets you into every one of those 16 nights. Flexi 5 gets you into any 5, your call, whenever suits.

Be a Hawkhead, because there's no wrong way to show up, only a right one for you.

STRONGER. LOUDER. TOGETHER.