He’s played with Deandre Ayton, Dante Exum and Lauri Markkanen but he’s not known by too many in his homeland. 23-year-old Keanu Pinder from Derby, Western Australia is another name on the ever-expanding watchlist of young Australian talent.
Son of former NBL player, Kendal Pinder, Keanu walked the classic path of both footy and basketball, before choosing the latter as many have in recent years.
After being drafted in the fifth round of the 1979 NBA draft playing, competing in Isreal and playing for the likes of the Harlem Globetrotters Pinder Snr notched up an impressive NBL resume. Despite being a turbulent career off the court, it included multiple police arrests, starred on the court.
He played 219 NBL games during stops with the Sydney Supersonics, Perth Wildcats and Illawarra Hawks. He was a huge part of the Perth Wildcats first championship in 1990 and their repeat effort in 1991. He was named to the All-NBL first team in 1985 and named on the Wildcats 30th anniversary team (2013) cementing his place among the Wildcats legends.
A bright talent from a young age, Keanu was a part of the Perth Wildcats training squad and academy during the 2012-2013 season.
After spending his whole life in Western Australia, Keanu attended his final year of school at Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas in the same year that he competed for Australia in the U19 championship finishing fourth. That team included the likes of Exum, Jonah Bolden and Emmett Naar.
While most Australians see their pathway in the US as a stepping stone to a division 1 college, it was not so direct for Keanu who attended Hutchinson Community College, a place with a strong basketball reputation. Pinder excelled there not to the surprise of his Indigenous mother Tracey Smith.
“When I first learned that Keanu was leaving to go to America I was really excited for him… achieving things that most Aboriginal people this way have only dreamed about.” said Tracey Smith.
Despite originally committing to Nebraska, Keanu committed to play at the University of Arizona after averaging 10.2 points and 7 rebounds per game at Hutchinson
Pinder would go on to play two seasons at Arizona featuring as a defensive option of the bench averaging 11.3 minutes per game while shooting at an efficient 69.2% in his senior season although he only averaged 2.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in his Arizona career.
Now, what the future holds for the athletic forward is not clear yet, but with his father’s playing history combined with Keanu’s sheer athleticism, expect him to continue to ball whether it be in Australia or abroad.
If he can fulfil his potential shown from a young age, Australia will have another basketball talent grown from an NBL import of the past. The Wildcats and other NBL teams should keep their eye on the boy from Derby.