Career
After South East Melbourne folded, Mackinnon was signed by the Townsville Crocodiles at the beginning of the 1999 season, and it was not long before Townsville became serious title contenders. In 2001, Townsville made the Grand Final, however Mackinnon missed the series due to injury. Once his contract ended in Townsville, Mackinnon elected to sign with the West Sydney Razorbacks where he became their captain and put up career-best numbers in his first season.
And although Brisbane somewhat struggled during the 2005-2006 season, Mackinnon demonstrated that he was still a dominant force in the NBL by putting up career-best numbers during the 2006-2007 season and led the Bullets to their first NBL championship in 20 years.
Unfortunately, knee injuries sidelined him for most of the 2007-2008 season. On 8 July 2008, the Melbourne Tigers announced they had signed Mackinnon to a three-year deal.
During the 2007 NBL off-season there was much speculation concerning whether or not Mackinnon would be signed as a free agent in the National Basketball Association. In June 2007, Mackinnon was reported as having "completed trials with Champions San Antonio Spurs, runners-up Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat." On the weekend of 23–24 June 2007, the Toronto Raptors included Mackinnon in a list of free agents invited to a camp to help fill out their roster.
Unfortunately, an offer of playing in the did not materialize and Mackinnon re-signed with the Brisbane Bullets.
In 2007 Mackinnon was also named captain of the Boomers squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Qualifying Series against New Zealand. On 8 February 2010, Melbourne Tigers teammates Sam Mackinnon and Chris Anstey both announced their retirement from the game, their last game in the NBL being the following Saturday night when the Melbourne Tigers played the Gold Coast Blaze at The Cage. The Melbourne Tigers coach at the time, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Westover, lamented the retirement of two greats of the Australian basketball scene, and spoke of both players in glowing terms, saying "there was only one Sam Mackinnon.
lieutenant"s a big loss today.
They are two legends of the game.".
