Daniel Michael Kickert (born 29 May 1983) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played professionally for 15 seasons throughout Europe and Australia, with his stints in the NBL including Melbourne United (2014–16), Brisbane Bullets (2016–18) and Sydney Kings (2018–21). In 2017, he became the first player in NBL history to join the exclusive 50–40–90 club, an achievement he replicated the following year.
Kickert played college basketball for Saint Mary's, leaving in 2006 as the program's all-time scoring leader. He spent the next eight years playing in Europe, winning a Ukrainian SuperLeague championship in 2013 with BC Budivelnyk. He also played for Australia at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He retired from basketball in June 2021.
Early life and career
Kickert was born and raised in Melbourne. He attended Aquinas College and played basketball for E Bees Junior Basketball Club and Waverley Basketball Club. He also represented Knox and Nunawading across U12s to U18s, including playing for Nunawading in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 2000. In 2001, he moved to Canberra on a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). He played for the AIS SEABL team in 2001 and 2002, where in his second year, he averaged 18 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes per game while being named to the All-SEABL Eastern Conference team.
College career
In his freshman season at Saint Mary's in 2002–03, Kickert earned All-Freshman team honours by CollegeInsider.com. He finished the season as the only Gael to start all 30 games, tied for 11th in the conference in scoring and had the third-best field goal percentage (52.0%) in the conference. In those 30 games, he averaged 12.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
In his sophomore season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team and earned the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic Most Valuable Player award. He was also named to the Top of the World Classic All-Tournament team. In 31 games (all starts), he averaged 14.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
In his junior season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team for the second straight year. He was also named to the USBWA All-District 9 first team and the NABC District 14 second team, while earning WCC Player of the Year honours by CollegeInsider.com. In addition, he was named to the WCC All-Tournament team after averaging 22.0 points and 4.5 rebounds against Santa Clara and Gonzaga. In 34 games (all starts), he averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.
In his senior season, Kickert was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team for the third straight year and earned the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his career. In 28 games (all starts), he averaged 16.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. He finished his career ranked as the all-time scorer in SMC history with 1,874 points.
College statistics
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2002–03
| style="text-align:left;"| Saint Mary's
| 30 || 30 || 25.5 || .520 || .447 || .782 || 3.7 || .7 || .3 || .6 || 12.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2003–04
| style="text-align:left;"| Saint Mary's
| 31 || 31 || 28.1 || .506 || .390 || .766 || 5.9 || .7 || .4 || .5 || 14.9
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2004–05
| style="text-align:left;"| Saint Mary's
| 34 || 34 || 30.9 || .538 || .471 || .846 || 6.6 || 1.0 || .4 || .7 || 16.6
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2005–06
| style="text-align:left;"| Saint Mary's
| 28 || 28 || 33.5 || .454 || .457 || .880 || 5.6 || 1.0 || .6 || .7 || 16.7
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
| 123 || 123 || 29.5 || .504 || .447 || .816 || 5.5 || .9 || .4 || .6 || 15.2
|-
Professional career
Europe (2006–2014) After going undrafted in the 2006 NBA draft, Kickert played in Italy for his first professional season, averaging 10 points per game for Basket Livorno during the 2006–07 season. He spent the next three seasons in Spain, playing the 2007–08 season with CB Breogán before joining Gran Canaria. He parted ways with Canaria in July 2010 after two seasons.