Sam Froling

Hawks ID: 203

Basketball was never really a choice for Sam Froling. It was the family business.

His father Shane played 271 NBL games. His mother Jenny won four WNBL championships. His brother Harry, sisters Alicia and Keely, all professionals too. Froling was always going to end up on a court somewhere. What nobody could have scripted was that he'd become one of Illawarra's own before he turned 20, and a champion before he turned 26.

Every Season, Better

Froling arrived at the Hawks as a rookie in 2019/20 after one season at Creighton, and simply kept improving. In 2020/21 he was durable and dependable, the kind of player a rebuilding club builds around, and he took home the NBL's Most Improved Player award for it. By 2023/24 he'd become one of the league's premier big men, averaging 15.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists a game on 57 percent shooting, good enough for the NBL Next Generation Award as the league's top rising talent.

The Price of the Crown

The 2024/25 season delivered everything Froling had been building toward. He was named to the All-NBL Second Team, posted a career-high 35 points in a single game against Adelaide, and served as co-captain as the Hawks marched to the club's first championship since 2001. Then, in Game 4 of the Grand Final series, he ruptured his Achilles tendon and was ruled out of the deciding Game 5. He watched his team win the title from the sideline. It didn't make it any less his.

Numbers

198 games in total for the Hawks, 10th on the club's all-time games played list as of the end of NBL26.

A Cornerstone, Still Building

Froling who has two-years left on the three-year deal he signed after NBL25 that will carry him through what would be his ninth season with the franchise, the club he's played his entire professional career for. At 26 he's still one of the youngest genuine stars in the league. He's already one of the Hawks' great modern big men. There's more to come.