Jonathan Janssen

Jonathan Peter Janssen (born 10 April 1995) is a New Zealand–Australian professional basketball player for the Rockingham Flames of the NBL1 West. Born in South Africa, Janssen grew up in New Zealand and Australia and played college basketball in the United States. He played a season for the Cleveland State Vikings before transferring to Hawaii Pacific in 2016 where he played three seasons. He has played as a professional in New Zealand, Kosovo, Australia and Luxembourg. In 2021, he made his debut for the New Zealand Tall Blacks.

Early life
Janssen was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He grew up living in New Zealand and Australia. He attended Northcross Intermediate in North Shore, New Zealand, before moving to Sunshine Coast, Queensland, where he attended Mountain Creek State High School. His hometowns are listed as Mountain Creek and Noosa Heads, both suburbs on the Sunshine Coast.

In 2013, Janssen committed to Cleveland State University and then had a prep season in the U.S. at Mt Zion Baptist Christian School in Baltimore, Maryland.

College career
After redshirting the 2014–15 season, Janssen debuted for the Cleveland State Vikings in the 2015–16 season. In 11 games, he totalled nine points and eleven rebounds.

Janssen transferred to Hawaii Pacific in the NCAA Division II in 2016. In 32 games in 2016–17, he averaged 5.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game.

As a junior in 2017–18, Janssen started all 28 games and averaged 13.6 points and 7.0 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game. He scored a career-high 25 points against Holy Names on 5 January 2018. He subsequently earned third-team All-PacWest.

As a senior in 2018–19, Janssen led the Sharks in scoring (12.1) and rebounding (5.9) and had a season-high 23 points in a win against Academy of Art in February 2019. He subsequently earned third-team All-PacWest for the second straight year.

Professional career
In March 2019, Janssen signed with the Canterbury Rams of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) for the 2019 season. He averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds per game and helped the Rams reach the Final Four.

In August 2019, Janssen signed with KB Prishtina of the Kosovo Superleague. He appeared in two Superleague games and two BCL games to start the 2019–20 season before leaving the team in early October.

Janssen had re-signed with the Rams for the 2020 New Zealand NBL season but later joined the Sunshine Coast Phoenix for the 2020 Queensland State League (QSL) season. He averaged 16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

In March 2021, Janssen joined the Hawke's Bay Hawks for the 2021 New Zealand NBL season. He played off the bench and averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Janssen joined BBC Gréngewald Hueschtert of the Nationale 2 in Luxembourg for the 2021–22 season. He averaged 21.9 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

Janssen returned to the Sunshine Coast Phoenix, now in the NBL1 North, for the 2022 season. He averaged 15.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Janssen remained on the Sunshine Coast during the off-season and re-joined the Phoenix for the 2023 NBL1 North season. In 19 games, he averaged 15.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

For the 2023–24 season, Janssen returned to Luxembourg to play for BBC US Heffingen in the Nationale 2. He helped the team win the Nationale 2 championship and earn promotion to the Luxembourg Basketball League. In 20 games, he averaged 26.4 points, 12.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

In April 2024, Janssen joined the Rockingham Flames for the rest of the 2024 NBL1 West season.

National team
In February 2021, Janssen debuted for the New Zealand Tall Blacks in a FIBA Asia Cup qualifier in Cairns against Australia. A number of regular Tall Blacks players were unavailable due to Australian NBL commitments, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine periods also forced the Tall Blacks to create an Australian-based team, with many being Queensland-based. Janssen had eight points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes in an 81–52 loss.

Personal life
Janssen is the son of Wim and Colleen Janssen, and he has one brother and two sisters.

Janssen holds a New Zealand passport and he is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand.