Basketball: Tall Blacks await opponents in China

The Tall Blacks will have to wait and see who they play next month in China after Brazil pulled out.

The tournament, which was to involve New Zealand, China, Lithuania and Brazil, will still go ahead, but the fourth team is yet to be confirmed.

"They've invited an American team to take Brazil's place, but I don't know what the composition of that team would be - in fact I don't even know if the Americans have accepted the invitation yet," Basketball New Zealand spokesman Grant Chapman said.

Chapman said an industrial dispute between the players and the federation was behind Brazil's decision.

The series will act as the first leg of the build-up to the Tall Blacks' Oceania series in New Zealand against Australia.