Sean Macdonald

Sean Matthew Macdonald (born 21 April 2000) is an Australian professional basketball player for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League (NBL). He joined the JackJumpers in 2021 as a development player. In 2024, he won the NBL Most Improved Player Award and helped the JackJumpers win the NBL championship.

Early life and career Macdonald grew up in Melbourne, Victoria, and played as a junior with the Dandenong Rangers. He helped the Under 18 Victoria Metro state team to the 2017 national title and the Under 20 Victoria state team to the 2018 national title.

In January 2018, Macdonald signed with the Kilsyth Cobras of the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).

Macdonald returned to the Cobras in 2019 for the inaugural season of the NBL1. In 17 games, he averaged 10 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 23.2 minutes per game.

Macdonald was set to join the Dandenong Rangers for the 2020 NBL1 season, but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After spending the 2020–21 NBL season training with the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Macdonald re-joined the Rangers in the NBL1 South for the 2021 season. He saw increased minutes in the first half of the season while Clint Steindl recovered from injury. He subsequently signed a new two-year contract with the team on 6 January 2023 to remain as a development player in 2023–24 and become a full-time roster player in 2024–25. He finished the season averaging 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21 minutes per game, proving himself a knockdown shooter and playmaker.

Macdonald joined the Darwin Salties of the NBL1 North for the 2023 season and averaged 14.7 points, 5.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He was nominated for the Best Sixth Man award and was the recipient of the NBL Most Improved Player Award. Macdonald started in game five of the series.

Macdonald re-joined the Salties for the 2024 NBL1 North season. In 14 games, he averaged 16.29 points, 5.36 rebounds, 6.21 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

After being elevated to a fully rostered player for the 2024–25 NBL season, He made his season debut for the JackJumpers in mid November, with the team sitting on a 4–8 record. He appeared in nine games before a foot injury sustained in round 15 ruled him out for the rest of the regular season.

Macdonald joined the Canterbury Rams of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) for the 2025 season. He was named to the NZNBL All-Star Five.

After missing the entire 2025–26 NBL season with an ACL injury, Macdonald re-signed with the JackJumpers to a one-year deal on 31 March 2026. However, during a one on one training session a week later, he twisted his knee and suffered a partial tear in the same ACL. He was subsequently ruled out for the first half of the 2026–27 NBL season,

On 20 July 2026, Macdonald signed a three-year contract with Melbourne United, joining as the team's Nominated Replacement Player (NRP) for the first year of the deal before entering the full roster in the second and third (the third year being a mutual option). On 1 September 2026, he was ruled out for the entire 2026–27 season after it was determined that he required a second ACL reconstruction.

National team career In 2016, Macdonald was a member of the Australian under 17 national team that finished seventh at the FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Spain.

Macdonald made his debut for the Australian Boomers during the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers. He missed the tournament after suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in a warm up game.