Jack McVeigh’s NBA Detour: Houston Rockets, 58 and a 39-Point Reminder

When Jack McVeigh walked into a Houston locker room and saw his name on an NBA locker, the version you now see in Cairns was born.

Fresh from a career-high 39 points against his old club Adelaide, then 35 points, seven boards and four dimes to dismantle New Zealand’s defence. Same jumper, same swagger – but there’s a sharper edge to it.

The deadeye — who has spent a year living day-to-day on an NBA two-way deal, guarding the world’s best and sharing a locker room with NBA champions — looks immensely comfortable orchestrating the offence since his return to the NBL.

For McVeigh, the Houston chapter started before he even put on Rockets red – in Boomers green and gold. 
“Essentially it had been in the works,” he recalls.
“It was during the Boomers camp, I was at a tryout and got the call that, ‘Houston really likes you. If you don’t make this Boomers team, you’re going to have to try out at Summer League. If you make this team you’re probably going to get a contract at the Rockets.’

“It was a weird situation. When I got told I had made the Boomers team it was kind of also being told I’d made the NBA as well… about three days later I got the call from my agent that he got the deal done, which was pretty epic. It was something I had always dreamed of for sure.”

This is a guy who, by his own admission, had quietly put that dream away.

“For the last five or six years prior, I had kind of given up on the dream of making the NBA to be honest,” he says.
“Not in terms of trying to pursue being the best I can be and it’d be awesome to one day play in the NBA – but I definitely didn’t believe it was possible anymore. All my effort went towards the NBL.”

Then came a JackJumpers title, a Finals MVP medal after nailing arguably the most clutch shot in NBL history, a Boomers call-up and suddenly the NBA door swung open.

FROM TASSIE TO TEXAS

McVeigh had been to Texas once or twice in college at Nebraska. Living there was different.

“It was cool, all the people have huge characters, big personalities," the forward says.

"It all happens so fast. You arrive in Houston, you’re training for the Rockets the next day. There were a lot of lifestyle things to deal with. Get a car, get bank details among many other things. It can be a little overwhelming the first few weeks.

“Two-way contracts can be stressful because none of it is guaranteed. They can cut you at any point and not have to pay you a cent. You are essentially on a day-to-day contract and a lot of two-way players get cut.”
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McVeigh has never been precious about packing a bag and moving on. He has embraced living out of a suitcase since he was a teenager.

“I haven’t lived in the same house since I was 15 years old for longer than a year. I’m a bit of a nomad. I try to keep everything as limited as possible,”he says.

But while he’s used to bouncing around, this was different – new country, new league, new everything.

The moment Jack entered the Rockets facilities and saw his locker won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

“The pinch-me moment was putting the socks and shorts on with an NBA logo on them," he says.
"I go into the locker room and I have my training gear laid out in my locker. NBA socks and shorts. Houston Rockets singlet with the NBA logo. Putting it on for the first time was epic.”
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He walked into a locker room stacked with talent: Alperen Şengün bullying guys on the block, explosive rookie Amen Thompson, lottery forward Jabari Smith Jr, plus battle-hardened guards like Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks setting the tone. But it was the 2023 NBA champion and seasoned veteran who left the deepest mark.

His locker sat right next to Jeff Green – the exact veteran wing McVeigh grew up watching.

“Jeff Green for me was peak young Jack loving the NBA,” he smiles.
“Watching him at the Cavaliers and the Celtics, I loved him on 2K. My locker was right next to his, the second day at the Rockets we were doing a shooting workout together.”

"There was also a very 2020s welcome-to-the-league moment: cracking a joke, hearing Green laugh, then realising who was on FaceTime.

“I cracked a joke and dapped up Jeff and he laughed,” McVeigh recalls.
“He was on FaceTime with someone and they laughed too. I sit down, start getting ready, Jeff keeps yapping away. Then I glance over and realise he’s talking to LeBron James. I’m just sitting there getting changed while Jeff Green is half a metre away from me talking to LeBron. That was one of the moments where I was like, ‘I’m in it.’”

LEARNING THE UDOKA WAY

‍‍If the logo on the shorts made it real, Houston Head Coach Ime Udoka’s standards made it serious.

“(Ime) would interact with guys off the court in a friendly way,” McVeigh says.
“But while he was coaching he kept everybody on edge and held us to an extreme level of activity, energy and toughness. If you didn’t match that, he wouldn’t have a bar of you.
“Those were the non-negotiables – physicality, fight, dog in you. It was cool to see how he coached defence, got guys to buy into his system and held everyone accountable.”

That defensive obsession, that constant demand for effort on every possession, has quietly seeped into the 29-year-olds game back home.

If Udoka set the tone, assistant Ben Sullivan sharpened the skill.

Sullivan has a reputation around the league as a shooting guru following stints under Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs (2012-14) along with the Boston Celtics (2021-23).

He was renowned for transforming Giannis Antetokounmpo’s jumpshot during the Milwaukee Bucks championship run in 2021.
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McVeigh arrived wondering if Sullivan would try to tweak his mechanics, instead he heard something else.

“We had conversations together about shooting theories,” McVeigh says.
“Essentially he was just like, no need to change anything, just do what you do. Always try to find ways to work on getting your shot off quicker.
“But the form, details and reps (I didn’t change).”

There’s real power in that kind of affirmation – an NBA shooting guru telling you your form is already elite. Then came the G League, and a very different kind of green light.

Down in the Rio Grande Valley, Head Coach and former Harlem Globetrotter Joseph Blair ran an offence that basically banned the mid-range.

“We weren’t allowed to take mid-range shots,” McVeigh says.
“It forced me to shoot a lot more threes and get to the paint. I probably take four or five threes a game in the NBL, over there I was taking 12 or 13. Just getting it up every time definitely made me a better shooter."

The Vipers also dragged him out of his comfort zone position-wise.

“They asked me to play more at the 2 and I’d been a 4 for the past five years,” he says.
“I was playing more wing and more guard, having the ball in my hands more. That’s helped me a lot this year.”

That positional stretch is written all over his Taipans tape now – a forward bringing the ball up, creating in pick-and-roll, hunting pull-up threes and post mismatches.

HUMBLING MATCH-UPS, GROUNDING FRIENDSHIPS

For all the highlights, Houston also challenged McVeigh’s belief.

“There was a humbling experience when I first got to the Rockets,” he admits.
“My mindset going in, which I struggled a lot over there, was feeling like I belonged.”

“Guys started flying in and we’d start to play pick-up. One of my first matchups was (number two draft pick in the 2021 NBA draft) Jalen Green. Going against him, I was like, damn, this kid is 22 years old and I think he’s better than me at every single part of basketball. What am I going to do to stay in the NBA?

“That was definitely the mindset and I think that is why I struggled over there at times, because I was always in that ‘prove it’ mindset.”

Off the court, there were anchors. Fellow Australian Boomer Jock Landale and Kiwi fan favourite Steven Adams.

“Jock Landale was always hyping me up, it’s always nice to have another Aussie over there,” McVeigh says.
“Someone to lean on, crack jokes with, bring it back to reality because it’s a crazy world over there. Our wives got along too, so we’d go out for dinner and just feel normal again.”

Then there was man mountain Adams – three dinners in one city, every road trip.

“On the road we’d just have great times," McVeigh laughs. “He loves exploring cities, so he’d order three huge meals from three different places. Just great times.”

Versatile Rocket Amen Thompson was the prodigy that impressed McVeigh the most.

“He’s a freak,” McVeigh said.
“Every game I’d watch him do something I don’t think I’d ever seen before. Can fit him anywhere and do anything."

NBA MOMENTS, NBL FUEL

There are snapshots he’ll carry forever.
“Pre-season, although it doesn’t count, it was still really cool stepping on an NBA floor and I was balling too,” he says.
“I went out there for three or four games, got buckets and hit a game-tying fadeaway against Oklahoma, that was awesome.”

“Then on my NBA debut I went 0-4 and didn’t score, which was pretty frustrating. But that was part of the process. Next game against Oklahoma I got my first NBA points out of a little Spain action, hit the three and that was just super cool.”

There was also a private promise to younger Jack that got checked off.

“I always joked I’d be a little bit disappointed in my career if I didn’t get a little one-foot fadeaway,” he laughs.
“I grabbed the ball, shot a one-foot fadeaway from the mid-range and it went in. That was definitely a moment where little young Jack would have been proud.”

And then there’s the number 58 stitched across his chest.

“The team sent me a list of available jersey numbers and so many were gone, I was like, what number am I going to use?” he says.
“My wife Beth came up with the idea of just adding up my numbers from across my career, see what it comes to. Fifty-eight — let’s roll with that.”

First-ever player to wear 58 in the NBA — a little bit of legacy and his name in the history books.

Following the NBA season, McVeigh joined the Atlanta Hawks for the 2025 NBA Summer League before making the move back home and suiting up in front of the Orange Army.

Fast forward to November and a 39-piece against Adelaide followed by 35 on the Breakers showcase McVeigh as a different beast in NBL26.
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Houston forced McVeigh to rewire how he scores, to defend an array of different matchups and to fight for minutes in a league where nothing is guaranteed.
Udoka gave him a masterclass in defence and the G League pushed him to expand his arsenal from the guard position.

Now he’s back in the state he grew up in.

A Gold Coaster lighting it up in Cairns, in a city that suits his laid-back lifestyle.

McVeigh went to Houston chasing a dream he’d once abandoned. He came back with proof he belonged there – and a version of himself the Taipans is only just starting to witness.