Ben Henshall

Ben Henshall (born 22 June 2004) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Otago Nuggets of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He is also contracted with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played for the BA Centre of Excellence in the NBL1 in 2022 and 2023.

Early life and career
Henshall was born and raised in Western Australia. He grew up in the Perth suburb of Lynwood and initially played soccer and football. He started to take basketball seriously at age 14 while attending Willetton Senior High School.

In 2021, Henshall led the Western Australia Under 18 Metro team to the gold medal at the national championships and was named the Western Australian Basketball League (WABL) Player of the Year while playing for the Cockburn Cougars. He also debuted for the Cougars in the NBL1 West in 2021, averaging 6.17 points, 2.67 rebounds and 1.58 assists in 12 games.

In 2022, Henshall moved to Canberra to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). He played for the BA Centre of Excellence in the NBL1 and averaged 8.0 points, 2.24 rebounds and 1.65 assists in 17 games in the Wildcard conference.

In 2023, Henshall led the Western Australia Under 20 team to the gold medal at the national championships and won the Bob Staunton Medal as the most outstanding player of the tournament. He also helped the NBA Global Academy win the NBA Academy Games in the United States, averaging a series-best 16.83 points per game. With the BA Centre of Excellence in the NBL1 East, he captained the team to a 20–2 record and averaged 18.05 points, 3.57 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.86 steals in 21 games.

Professional career
On 17 April 2023, Henshall signed a two-year deal with the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL). In his NBL debut on 1 October 2023, he scored a game-high 24 points in a 110–99 loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix. He became the first Australian to top score on debut in the NBL and joined Joe Ingles as the only player under the age of 20 to score 20 points on debut. He appeared in 16 games for the Wildcats in 2023–24, averaging 3.1 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Henshall joined the Otago Nuggets for the 2024 New Zealand NBL season.

National team
In February 2023, Henshall joined the Australian Boomers as a training player ahead of two FIBA World Cup qualifiers. He re-joined the Boomers as a member of the 12-man squad twelve months later.

Personal life
Henshall is the son of Mark and Joanne.