{"id":560422,"date":"2026-03-24T04:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560422\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T04:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:59:15","slug":"basketball-new-zealand-breakers-secure-centre-sam-mennenga-on-a-two-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/560422\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball: New Zealand Breakers secure centre Sam Mennenga on a\u00a0two-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">ESPN reports there was interest in Australia, while he also had suitors across the EuroLeague and Japanese B.League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cSam is a cornerstone of our Kiwi identity,\u201d Breakers owner Marc Mitchell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\"> \u201cKeeping him in Auckland was our top priority as we continue to build a championship-calibre squad capable of performing on the big stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">Mennenga\u2019s international stock also continues to rise. He recently recorded a 10-point, 14-rebound double-double for the Tall Blacks in their victory over the Philippines, proving his utility on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">Dillon Boucher, president of basketball operations, confirmed  Mennenga\u2019s signature is only the first major piece of the roster puzzle, with further additions expected as the club seeks to bridge the gap to the NBL top six.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">The club also has Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Reuben Te Rangi, and Izayah Le\u2019Afa contracted for next season, while Taylor Britt has a team option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"LolVegRJp\" style=\"display:none\">The Breakers are still searching for a new coach after a mutual parting of ways with Petteri Koponen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN reports there was interest in Australia, while he also had suitors across the EuroLeague and Japanese B.League.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[276477,64,63,726,272716,98710,7136,276479,276478,183973,21503,1899,276476,3127,2652,89840,64935,98254,85,4031,1928,89841,3205],"class_list":["post-560422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-a-twoyear","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-breakers","tag-centre","tag-deal","tag-foreseeable","tag-fortified","tag-frontcourt","tag-future","tag-have","tag-mennenga","tag-new","tag-on","tag-resigning","tag-sam","tag-secure","tag-sports","tag-star","tag-their","tag-twoyear","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560422","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=560422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}