{"id":537571,"date":"2026-03-13T10:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537571\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T10:31:17","slug":"breakers-coach-to-depart-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/537571\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakers coach to depart club"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Zealand Breakers announced on Friday current Associate Head Coach Judd Flavell won\u2019t return to the club for the NBL27 season.<\/p>\n<p>Flavell was tipped to be in the mix for the club\u2019s Head Coaching role after Petteri Koponen\u2019s recent departure.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, he is undertaking a new chapter that aligns with his international coaching ambitions, having secured a head coaching contract prior to the conclusion of the current NBL season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was approached regarding an international opportunity as a head coach during our recent season,\u201d Flavell said in a club statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter careful consideration of my long term goals, I felt I couldn\u2019t turn it down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbl.com.au\/finals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Finals schedule, tickets &amp; how to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Flavell, a four-time championship winning coach with the Breakers over 13 seasons, had re joined the club for the 2025-26 campaign as Associate Head Coach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud of what we have achieved as a team at the Breakers this season,\u201d Flavell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Breakers will always be a part of who I am, and I will remain a staunch supporter from afar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish the club nothing but success and leave knowing the foundation is now in place for them to reclaim their place at the top of the NBL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Breakers are continuing their search for a new head coach for the NBL27 season, following Koponen\u2019s two year tenure at the club.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Judd is a legend of New Zealand basketball, we are incredibly proud to see him take this next step on the world stage,&#8221; Breakers President of Basketball Operations, Dillon Boucher said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Judd\u2019s dedication to the Breakers has been absolute throughout his tenure, and we always recognised that his success both locally, and as the Tall Blacks Head Coach would eventually command international attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe follows a path that reflects his growth as a world class leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving committed to his new opportunity, he leaves with our full blessing. We are excited to see him pursue his new challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, ESPN&#8217;s Olgun Uluc has suggested the Breakers could have interest in former head coach Mody Maor, who led the team from 2022 to 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Maor is currently coaching at Nagasaki Velca in the Japanese B. League.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">2 weeks ago, my ESPN reporting was that the NZ Breakers have a strong interest in Mody Maor for their vacant head coach position. Maor has been with Nagasaki for the past two seasons, and I\u2019m told both parties are open to a reunion. The Breakers, however, are heavily interested. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/J6lFu0rDzE\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/J6lFu0rDzE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Q0z6pRrQ8L\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Q0z6pRrQ8L<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OlgunUluc\/status\/2032294597368692760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 13, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The NBL Playoffs continue on Saturday night with a double header on ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>First, South East Melbourne hosts Adelaide at John Cain Arena at 5.30pm AEDT, before Perth takes on Sydney at RAC Arena, from 8pm AEDT.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773397877_5_699cf5b7327f19300623040a_NBL26 Finals_1920x250.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Breakers announced on Friday current Associate Head Coach Judd Flavell won\u2019t return to the club&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-537571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}