Chris Goulding

Christopher James Goulding (born 24 October 1988) is an Australian professional basketball player for Melbourne United of the National Basketball League (NBL). He made his debut in the NBL in 2006 as a development player with the Brisbane Bullets, going on to play for the Perth Wildcats and Gold Coast Blaze, before settling in Melbourne. In the NBL, Goulding is a three-time championship winner and a three-time All-NBL First Team honouree. He also won the league's scoring title in 2014 and claimed grand final MVP honours in 2018. Goulding is a regular with the Australian Boomers, but he also holds a British passport.

Goulding was born in Launceston, Tasmania. He attended West Launceston Primary School and spent a lot of time around Australian rules football thanks to his father Steve who played professionally for North Melbourne and Claremont. He first started playing basketball recreationally while in Launceston, and upon moving to Queensland with his family as an 8-year-old, he began to play it competitively. In Brisbane, he continued primary school at Gumdale State School and then attended secondary school at Brisbane State High School. He graduated from Brisbane State High in 2005. As a junior, he played for the Southern Districts Spartans.

Goulding began his professional career as a development player with the Brisbane Bullets during the 2006–07 NBL season. He made his NBL debut and lone appearance of the season on 23 December 2006 against the Townsville Crocodiles, recording one assist in 5½ minutes. The Bullets went on to win the NBL championship in March 2007, earning Goulding his first title. He appeared in 15 games for the Bullets during the 2007–08 NBL season, but following the club's collapse, he moved west for the 2008–09 NBL season to play for the Perth Wildcats.

For the 2009–10 NBL season, Goulding returned to Queensland to play for the Gold Coast Blaze. He spent three seasons with the Blaze before they too collapsed following the 2011–12 season.

For the 2012–13 NBL season, Goulding joined the Melbourne Tigers. In December 2012, he was named MVP of the NBL All-Star Game for his 24 points.

After a stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2013 NBA Summer League, Goulding continued on with the Tigers for the 2013–14 NBL season. On 9 March 2014, he scored a career-high 50 points and made nine 3-pointers in the Tigers' 92–82 win over the Sydney Kings. It was the NBL's first individual 50-point game in the 40-minute era. He was subsequently crowned the NBL scoring champion for the 2013–14 season with a league-best 23.0 points per game.

After a stint with the Dallas Mavericks during the 2014 NBA Summer League, Goulding moved to Spain for the 2014–15 season to play for CAI Zaragoza. He averaged 8.6 points per game in 33 Liga ACB games, and 11.5 points per game in 16 EuroCup games.

Goulding returned to Australia for the 2015–16 season and re-joined the Melbourne franchise, now known as Melbourne United. He helped United win the minor premiership after they finished the regular season in first place with an 18–10 record. However, they were defeated in the semi-finals by the New Zealand Breakers. Following the conclusion of the NBL season, Goulding moved to Italy to play out the season with Auxilium Torino. He averaged 4.2 points per game in 10 LBA games.