As the curtain fell on the New Zealand Breakers’ rise back into the NBL’s elite with their 77-69 grand final loss to the Sydney Kings on Wednesday, it brought with it plenty of questions for the franchise to answer.
Unlike a year ago, a solid core of players remain contracted through to the end of next season — including key contributors Izayah Le’afa, Tom Vodanovich and Cam Gliddon. However, the majority of their core rotation players will enter free agency.
It’s not an unfamiliar position to be in when it comes to overseas talent. The import spots are often a carousel for most NBL teams with new players making the trip down each season. Jarrell Brantley, Dererk Pardon and Barry Brown Jr all joined on one-year deals and will test the waters on the open market, while Next Star Rayan Rupert will declare for the NBA draft where he is expected to be a first-round selection.
Of the local players, long-serving captain Tom Abercrombie and big man Rob Loe were signed until the end of the 2023 season. Both players are toward the end of their careers — at 35 and 31 years old — but made big contributions this season, so the Breakers will have to decide whether to bring them back.
They will have to assess who to bring back and prioritise accordingly, with point guard Will McDowell-White also off-contract and sure to pique the interest of plenty of teams. This season, McDowell-White emerged as one of the league’s top point guards showing improvement in every element of his game — posting career highs in points, assists and rebounds per game.