Taipans confirm Jackson Makoi

The Cairns Taipans are pleased to confirm the signing of Anyiarbany “Jackson’” Makoi as the first new face of the 2024-25 roster, with the 196cm point guard joining on a one-year contract. 
 
The former Kings development player spent two years in Sydney and was part of their 2023 NBL Championship. He played 15 games in 2022-23 before suffering a season-ending injury in Perth.

Makoi required a knee reconstruction and spent the following six months in rehab, managing to return to the Kings line-up earlier this year. 
 
The 23-year-old has since signed with Northside Wizards, and has averaged 20 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists in his first three NBL1 North games. 
 
Taipans Head Coach Adam Forde said that Makoi has already made a trip to Cairns to meet with the Club, and he joins the team with a clearly defined role. 
 
“Jackson will come in to be our backup point guard this season. Like Taran Armstrong, Jackson is a talented point guard who has a good ability to navigate screens on the defensive end, and attack downhill on offence. 
 
“He’ll contribute to our pace and speed in which we want to play at,” he explained.
 
“Not too many Taipan fans will know about Jackson after he had an interrupted season recovering from an ACL injury. 
 
“But he has experience playing internationally in Croatia, won a championship with Sydney, and now preparing to represent South Sudan on an Olympic stage in Paris. Pretty impressive for a guy at only 23."
 
After growing up in Melbourne, Makoi went to Saint Louis Christian Academy in Missouri for high school and remained in the US to attend Lee College and Daytona State. 
 
His career began in Croatia, where he played with Vrijednosnice Osijek in 2021-22 before returning home to Australia and signing with Sydney.  
 
Makoi was born in Egypt and has been a member of the South Sudan national team since 2020. He was the starting point guard at AfroBasket in 2021 and was named the team’s MVP for the second window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers in 2022. 
 
He joins Armstrong, Sam Waardenburg and AK Gak on the roster.