Manchester Giants have signed local 6’4” guard Jordan Whelan, who rejoins the club from the reigning BBL Champions, London Lions.

The 26-year-old, from Warrington, last played for Giants in the 2017-18 season, when he averaged his BBL-best of 11 points, two assists and two steals per game. His standout performance for Giants came in a 96-94 defeat against Surrey Scorchers, where he scored 29 points in 23 minutes, shooting 71% from the field.

He followed that with two crucial free-throws to beat Sheffield Sharks in a ‘roses derby’, hitting 6-6 at the line in that game on his way to 11 points.

Since that season, Whelan moved on initially to Worcester Wolves, averaging 10 points per game, including a strong finish to the 2018-19 campaign where he posted 14 points per outing over the last month of the season.

Last season he featured for London Lions, where in a more limited role he put up an efficient five points per outing for the league champions, with a season-high of 18 against Bristol Flyers in December.

Prior to the BBL, Whelan spent two seasons playing in Germany, averaging 16 points per game for BBG Herford and Hertener Loewen, following a US college career at MidAmerica Nazarene. He played his junior basketball on a number of very successful Manchester Magic teams.

Whelan is a guard who can score in bursts, as he has proven throughout his career. His 11 points per game in a Giants uniform came in under 20 minutes of action per outing; and in his senior year of college he averaged 12 points in just 18 minutes per game.

“I’m really excited to be back at the Giants and I’m ready to make an impact on basketball in the city,” said Whelan.

“Being back home will help me as a player and it’s an exciting time to be coming in with the club rebuilding and reinventing itself. I’m really happy to be a part of that.”

Head Coach Danny Byrne added, “We know that Jordan can put points on the board quickly, with a varied offence; but when we brought him in two seasons ago he was one of the late additions that transformed us defensively too, and helped us to finish the season competitively.

“Since that time, he has been part of two great programmes in the BBL, playing particularly well in the role that he had with London last season and further developing his offensive skill set.

“We feel that in a greater role with his hometown club, this is the time for Jordan to come to the fore as one of the premier British guards in the league.”