Akoldah Gak

Akoldah Gak (born 12 July 2002) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Cairns Taipans of the National Basketball League (NBL).

Early life
Gak was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to parents who had fled South Sudan and moved to Australia. He attended St Dominic's College in Sydney. Gak received a scholarship to attend Blair Academy in the United States in 2018 through a basketball pipeline that was established by professional basketball player and Blair alumni, Luol Deng.

Professional career
On 12 October 2020, Gak signed a three-year deal with the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL). He was rostered as a development player during the 2020–21 NBL season before he became a contracted player for the remainder of his tenure. Gak's family chose for him to develop in Australia due to the global uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic; Hawks head coach Brian Goorjian considered the assignment of a National Basketball Association (NBA) prospect to his team as a "real compliment". Gak received limited playing time during his three seasons with the Hawks.

In the 2022 off-season, Gak played for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Summer League and had a one-game stint with the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL1 East. In the 2023 off-season, he played for the Southern Districts Spartans in the NBL1 North.

On 10 April 2023, Gak signed a two-year deal with the Cairns Taipans.

Gak joined the West Adelaide Bearcats for the 2024 NBL1 Central season.

National team career
Gak played for the Australia men's national under-19 basketball team at the 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup. In 2022, he played for the Australian Boomers in three FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

Personal life
Two of Gak's older brothers have played college basketball: Gorjok for the California Baptist Lancers and Deng for the Miami Hurricanes.