{"id":851185,"date":"2026-08-11T07:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851185\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T07:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:50:18","slug":"breakers-sign-canadian-big-man-as-final-import","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851185\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakers sign Canadian big man as final import"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New Zealand Breakers on Tuesday unveiled Charles Bediako as their third import for the Hungry Jack&#8217;s NBL27 Season.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian big man, with three years of experience in the NBA G League, arrives in New Zealand following a season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) with the Scarborough Shooting Stars.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old, who has represented the Canadian team during their 2027 FIBA Americas Cup qualifying tournament, completes Gordon Herbert&#8217;s roster for 2026-27, joining Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Josiah-Jordan James as imports for the Breakers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are getting a young athletic big who brings a paint presence at both ends of the floor and an ability to influence a game at the defensive end of the floor, not just with shot blocking but through his size and wingspan; he is the sort of player who changes a lot of shots,&#8221; Herbert said.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Your final import is\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Charles Bediako!<br \/>\u2070The 6\u201911 Canadian is heading to Auckland, bringing size, athleticism and lockdown defence as we round out our 2026\/27 roster. \u2070\u2070With 3 years of G League experience, Bediako adds another serious defensive presence to Gordon Herbert\u2019s\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EJaXJ70yQE\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/EJaXJ70yQE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BNZ Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NZBreakers\/status\/2087048329909968947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 11, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Across his three seasons in the G League with the Austin Spurs, Grand Rapids Gold and Motor City Cruise, he amassed 82 games, with averages of 8.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per contest.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to turning pro, Bediako played three US college seasons with the Alabama Crimson Tide, earning SEC All-Freshman honours in 2022 and SEC All-Defensive honours in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Charles will bring genuine paint protection with his size and athleticism and is a renowned shot blocker and fan favourite already in his time as a professional and during his two-year College career,&#8221; Breakers President of Basketball Dillon Boucher said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be surprised to see him spending plenty of time above the rim or swinging on the rim at the offensive end of the floor as well; he likes to finish at the basket so will bring some exciting moments for the fans at Spark Arena this season for sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rounding out Herbert&#8217;s team for this season are Sam Mennenga, Carlin Davison, Izayah Le&#8217;Afa, Reuben Te Rangi, Preston Le Gassick, Kouat Noi, Dejan Vasiljevic and Anzac Rissetto.<\/p>\n<p>Breakers Chairman and Owner Marc Mitchell is delighted to see the final piece of the NBL27 playing roster fall into place.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This has been an exciting and productive recruitment process,&#8221; Mitchell said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The roster is a great blend of experience and youth, with a core group returning to build on our Ignite Cup success last season alongside an injection of proven NBL champions in DJ Vasiljevic and Kouat Noi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Add the youthful promise of NBL1 All-Star Preston Le Gassick and Kiwi Anzac Rissetto, alongside two exciting new imports in Josiah-Jordan James and Charles Bediako, and we have a team that will excite the fans and can challenge for a championship.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Breakers open their season against Illawarra on Sunday, September 20 at Spark Arena.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/linkin.bio\/nbl\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"w-inline-block\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786434618_142_6a61a5ad7c9ee09714f75730_69d47a153353ed2bdf7cd807_Article Banner_1920x250 (1).jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Breakers on Tuesday unveiled Charles Bediako as their third import for the Hungry Jack&#8217;s NBL27&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-851185","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\/851185","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=851185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}