Jordan Kaesler: The 14yo who dropped 60 in a day

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Jordan Kaesler was told in early 2024 that he wasn’t good enough to play Division One basketball as a bottom-ager because he was too small.

Not strong enough. Not ready.

As he dropped 64 points in under 24 hours at the 2025 Under-16 Championships in Bendigo as a 14-year-old, Kaesler is now the one laughing.

“I had to rise and just keep working hard to prove them wrong — that my size doesn’t matter,” he told basketball.com.au.

Kaesler, now 15, has added that achievement to a growing resume at a young age in multiple sporting codes:

• Under-16 State Championship winner in 2025 with the Logan Thunder
• The 2025 State Championship Grand Final MVP for the Logan Thunder
• The 2024 Basketball Male Player of the Year — Kings College
• Player of the Tournament at the 2025 AFL Queensland School State Championships
• Under-15 Australian School AFL Tournament All Australian

But Kaesler downplays the attention he gets and wants to let his game do the talking.

“It’s cool to get one of those Baseline edits for others to see me perform,” he said.

“But when a few people at school come up to me and say ‘oh you’re Jordan Kaesler’, I get a bit weird, I don’t feel like it’s normal — I don’t like people coming up to me and saying that.”

A Life Engulfed In Sport

Kaesler has been surrounded by sport since he was young.

With both parents coming from basketball and football backgrounds, this has guided his sporting life.

Football runs in the Kaesler family. Kaesler was named in the 2025 Under-16 Suns Academy and Under-15 Emerging Talent Squad and enjoys playing off half back, where he can apply his speed with ball in hand.

This is well supported by the position enabling him with the ability to read the play behind the ball which he relishes. These are skills that have translated successfully to the court.  

Kaesler said his bond with his brother Leroy, a member of the Under-18 Gold Coast Suns Academy had driven him to set a higher bar for the goals he wanted to reach.

“I’d definitely say it’s motivating, because I wanna be the best sibling, and be the best at sports - me and my brother do compete a lot, especially at the gym,” he shared.

“He wants to be a professional as well, so we’ve been working together for a while now to keep pushing each other so we’re both ready for the next stage.”

Kaesler also believes he’s well equipped to perform through father Tate — who is the Gold Coast Suns VFL coach, a man that understands the dedication required to compete at the highest level.

“I love doing game review with him [Dad] — we’ll watch an AFL game and he gives me some key highlights of the players that I need to watch, and what I can bring into my game,” he said.

“He says a lot that I need to do extra work to be better than the others… he wants me to be like Matt Rowell, because every day he goes into work, he’s doing extras before training, and he would do stuff after training that the other boys won’t do. He’s a freak.”

Kaesler says that both his parents have been in his corner every step of the way, as he’s navigated the trials and tribulations of a young athlete finding his way.

“Mum and dad were beside me [when I didn’t make D1 ball in rep. basketball], and they wanted me to keep working — they didn’t want me to lose confidence on something I love,” he revealed.

“My parents come to me [when I may get ahead of myself] and say let’s not get ahead of yourself. Let’s keep working and then your performance will show in how you play.”

The intuition of Kaesler’s parents was right. Big time.

Bendigo Brilliance

His 2025 Under-16 National Championships campaign in Bendigo was a headliner.

The 175cm Queensland South guard led the basketball tournament in points and assists, on 44% shooting from the field and 35% from three — hitting 20 three-pointers, more than triple the next-best teammate of his.

His defensive disruption that produced 28 steals had him positioned as the 2nd strongest beneficiary of fast break points on the team (35) and points in the paint (82).

Both of these categories encouraged a run-and-gun play-style as Queensland South excelled in all these categories throughout the tournament.

With Kaesler’s usage being the highest on his team by far (35.2%) and given his scoring production (22.6 PPG), he was faced with a new challenge that he’d never experienced before.

“Throughout the rep season, I was getting doubled and face guarded but at nationals that was a whole different level, like I’d never had that much attention before,” he admitted.

“My coach was really supportive in helping me through that — in giving me some ways to get off the ball early, or set up my teammates, or find routes to get me the ball.

"I worked on my screen work in training, my pick and roll work, just trying to find the easiest paths and see if I have the opportunity to split it, to get downhill.”

Jordan Kaesler 2025 U16's National Championships Wrap

22.6 PPG | 5.0 RPG | 4.9 APG | 43% FG | 20-57 3PT (35%) | 3.1 SPG

Evidently, Kaesler wasn’t fazed by the attention he received, despite being the junior to much of his competition. He said that mindset was essential in his tournament success.

“For every game, I’d clear my head and not worry about the past — really, I was just trying to stay as humble as I could,” he explained.

“I was very confident in the work I did every day to lead up to this tournament, and I was ready to play, ready to showcase myself.”

While Kaesler was equipped with plenty of reps, a diet plan and recovery to combat the mental and physical load of seven matches in seven days, he said that his long-tenured bond with his Queensland South teammates helped carry the team through.

“Growing up, building connections, and then finally going to play a big tournament with them, it was great, we get to achieve the same things,” he said.

“As you get older, you work together and figure out each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so that really helped going up to the tournament with the few boys that I’ve known for a while.”

While Kaesler described himself as a quieter type on the court, a more extroverted side came to life in a 14-point win over NSW where Kaesler and an older Ty Khomenko led the way.

“My coach said I don’t want to see any celebrations… we knew it was going to be a big game, and a big test,” he recalled.

“In the last quarter, we were getting hot, we were getting up on each other, and I hit a three in the corner, NSW called timeout.

"I ran to the bench, and I was celebrating hard, and coach didn’t like it. But I just gave him a little wink and then tapped him on the head — it was such a great time.”

A Reaffirming Voice

Kaesler’s form is making basketball figures take notice.

Now a client of agency firm UNLABLD, Kaesler disclosed how this came to be.

“I really didn’t have any idea what an agent was originally,” he said.

“At school nationals for basketball [last year], Tony [Richter] was watching, and he saw something in me that he doesn’t see in other players.

"He approached me and my parents to suggest this would be a good idea.”

UNLABLD player agent Tony Richter would never have been aware of Kaesler, had his son not attended the same school, Kings College. But with fate intervening, he justified how this was an opportunity he couldn’t ignore.

“He had the two back-to-back 40-point games in the semis and the finals [for Logan, 2025 State Champs], which is incredible, and then the year before that, the school won the sophomore and the junior high school championships at state level (which they’ve never done before) — Jordan played a huge role in both of them,” Richter said.

“We’ve seen him just continually perform at a high level and it’s pretty easy for us to go well, he’s killing it, we should probably bring him on board.”

Kaesler shared how these conversations unfolded.

“When I first met Tony, we had a good chat about where I want to go and how I’m going to get there. Mum and Dad had a big chat with him as well, and they really liked what he saw in me,” he revealed.

“We never promised anything, we were just honest in terms of who we are at UNLABLD, what his experience will be, and how much we believed in him,” Richter said.

While there was some initial hesitancy, Kaesler no stranger to being the underdog, wasn’t afraid to take his basketball journey one step further.

“My parents and I talked a lot, we weren’t sure if it was going to put pressure on me or it was going to affect how I was playing,” he reflected.

“But eventually I said, ‘I think I’m ready for an agent, it’s not going to put pressure on me, I’m still going to play, I’m just going to put it in the back of my mind.”

When asked about whether this’d enhance how seriously he approached sport, he shut down this talk.

“I wouldn’t say I take it more seriously, because I already take my sport seriously,” he said.

“But I just want to be prepared for the long run, where they can help me with my decisions on where to go, and what to do – but I still have a lot of work to do before then.”

Richter said that Kaesler being immersed in a sporting family made it a perfect match.

“I think they’ve done [Kaesler’s parents Tate and Colleen] a really good job, creating an environment for the kids to have accountability,” he emphasised.

“It’s not just about telling them that they’re the greatest, it’s about pushing them to continually want to get better — it’s been really easy to work with them because they’re sports people.”

Club to Country

Kaesler despite his young age, was not restricted by a limit when setting aspirations for what he wants to achieve going forward.

“I’d want a few offers from schools, or I’d like to maybe play in the NBL potentially — but the ultimate goal is to play for my country,” he shared.

Kaesler envisioned how this goal can be achieved, which given his performances could be a possibility that is realised.

“The COE [Centre of Excellence] would be a great pathway for me,” he indicated.

“In one or two years, it’d be great to go up against those sorts of guys to improve my game.”

For some young athletes, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with complacency when they’re in the shining lights.

If being an underdog has taught Kaesler anything, it’s that complacency can't be afforded. He is driven by a desire to tower over the competition, refusing to be defined by his slimmer frame.

“I’ve got to go to work every day to do the 1% that others might not do,” he stressed.

“I’ve just got to keep improving my game and myself as a person, to try and come out on top of the rest.”

Eighteen months ago, he was told he was too small, too weak, and not ready. Now his mindset is built to break anyone who still thinks so.