The 2.11m centre has re-signed with the Nuggets for this year’s National Basketball League.
He is the team’s first confirmed signing for the season.
It follows the Dunedin local’s return home a year ago, and his breakout season in Otago colours.
His inside presence proved key for the team at both ends of the court, while his playmaking helped generate baskets on offence.
Timmins finished the season with 19.8 points per game, on 53.2% shooting from the field.
He led the NBL with 13.8 rebounds per game, and added 4.1 assists and 1.5 blocks.
It was a significant jump from 2020, when he was used largely as a role player by the Franklin Bulls.
It was also a season that netted him a development player contract with the New Zealand Breakers.
He has since played himself into the back-up centre role with the Australian NBL team and is averaging 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
How much of the New Zealand league season he will be around for remains unclear.
Nuggets general manager Angela Ruske said initially Timmins was to be released in April to play games that did not clash with the Breakers.
However, at that point the Breakers were intending to play home games in New Zealand.
She said it was now more likely he would be able to join the Nuggets in mid-May, given he will likely have to isolate at home on return from Australia.
Timmins is also a chance of making Tall Blacks touring teams later in the year.
He would miss the end of the season if he was to earn national selection.
Despite that, Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere is thrilled to have secured the hometown star for another season.
"I am really looking forward to reconnecting with Sam," Matehaere said.
"He’s a great person, first and foremost, and he just happens to be seven-feet [2.13m] and a franchise star in the making.
"He has continued his rise in the ANBL with the Breakers and is now a regular in the rotation.
"He will bring back a greater level of basketball IQ along with his dedication to the Nuggets.
"A great team player and role model, it will be great to have him back home."
Timmins became the Nuggets’ youngest player when he debuted as a 15-year-old in 2013.
He missed the 2014 season with a back injury, before winning the most valuable player award as Otago Boys’ High School won the secondary schools national championships later that year.
A year in Christchurch with the Canterbury Rams followed, before he spent four years playing for the University of Washington in the United States.
