{"id":893988,"date":"2026-09-16T10:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893988\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:52:15","slug":"nbl-news-2026-mojave-king-set-to-sign-with-new-zealand-breakers-josiah-jordan-james-hamstring-injury-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893988\/","title":{"rendered":"NBL news 2026: Mojave King set to sign with New Zealand Breakers; Josiah-Jordan James hamstring injury, replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tall Blacks guard Mojave King is set to sign on as the replacement for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/new-zealand-breakers-264t\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Breakers<\/a> recruit Josiah-Jordan James as he works to recover from a hamstring injury. <\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the Breakers confirmed the US import had torn his left hamstring in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/basketball\/national-basketball-league\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBL<\/a> pre-season game against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/melbourne-united-2620\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melbourne United<\/a> and is facing up to six weeks.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"James in action against the Sydney Kings during a pre-season match.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1e32a639a0e21bc5004be99a6b4f780045a73114.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">James in action against the Sydney Kings during a pre-season match.\u00a0Getty Images for NBL<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019 injury is a cruel blow to the Auckland-based side as they finish their final preparations for their first NBL game of the season against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/illawarra-hawks-25nq\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Illawarra Hawks<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Breakers president of basketball operations Dillon Boucher said James was \u201ctremendously disappointed\u201d to learn the extent of his injury, given how far he has travelled to secure his spot on the team. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur first thoughts are with him,\u201d Boucher wrote in the statement. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo player wants to be injured, but this is especially the case when you have travelled so far to a new club and playing in a new league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is working with our incredible medical and performance team with the goal of getting back on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Breakers have yet to confirm who will step in to replace James as of yet, but it has been widely reported the team will sign Kiwi international King. <\/p>\n<p>King, who was drafted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/los-angeles-lakers-1m3b\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in 2023, is a Breakers veteran who last represented the team in 2024-25. He has 95 NBL appearances. <\/p>\n<p>While King will be a valuable replacement for the Breakers heading into the new season, Boucher praised the team\u2019s next man up mentality in times like these.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe showed in pre-season when we had several players out that the team does not dwell on who is missing, but sees opportunity for the next player in,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is the key, players stepping up and making the most of added minutes and the chances to take on more responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/tasmania-jackjumpers-6flo\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tasmanian JackJumpers<\/a> announced coach Scott Roth has inked a two-year extension that will take hi through to the end of the 2028-29 season. <\/p>\n<p>Roth, an American coach, has been in charge of the JackJumpers over the side\u2019s past five campaigns and helped them to win the championship in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<p>He was crucial in forming the \u2018Defend the Island\u2019 mentality that the team works towards, with the term embraced by fans across the state.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scott Roth, head coach of the JackJumpers looks on.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/105fe2597b8cec2891f3d9b2544754d2b8a6be61.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Scott Roth, head coach of the JackJumpers looks on.\u00a0nna\\alyssa.bone<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery Tasmanian has really backed us and believed in us,\u201d Roth said in a statement announcing his new deal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That pride and belief in our team gave Tasmanians a real pride and belief in themselves too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;ve also raised the bar and paved the way for others like the AFL to build a team here with confidence, it can happen and should happen on this island.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tasmanian club chair Steve Old had a simple message about Roth\u2019s signing, saying: \u201cScott understands Tasmania, Tasmania understands Scott.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u201cScott didn\u2019t just coach a basketball team &#8211; he helped build a club, a culture and something that Tasmania has truly made its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe genuinely believe the best chapters of the JackJumpers story are still to be written.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NBL27 will begin on Saturday when Melbourne United host the Adelaide 36ers. The Breakers will kick off their campaign on Sunday against the Hawks, while the JackJumpers will host South East Melbounre on Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tall Blacks guard Mojave King is set to sign on as the replacement for Breakers recruit Josiah-Jordan James&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-893988","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\/893988","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=893988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}