Following a 2-1 home series victory over Korea, Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic has trimmed his roster to 14 as the side edge closer to next month's World Cup in Spain.
The squad leaves for Korea in a week for two more games against the South Koreans and they then move to invitational tournaments in China before travelling to Europe with games in Lithuania and Serbia before arriving in Spain in late August.
Of the 17 players in the squad for the home series against Korea, four will not travel to Asia with Jack Salt, Tohi Smith-Milner and Josh Bloxham not required, while Alex Pledger has a foot injury and will be out for four to six weeks.
"The toughest decision is the one that is made for us with Alex and his injury because he was one of the main players we were counting on," Vucinic said.
"We still don't discount him because we will give him time to recover but it will be a race against time for Alex. We really feel for him, he has worked so hard after surgery on his ankle and now this, it is such an unusual injury too, it really was bad luck the way he came down on someone else's foot."
