NBL stars dominate Tall Blacks squad

The New Zealand Tall Blacks on Wednesday announced their squad for the upcoming 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers against the Philippines and Guam.

Headlining Judd Flavell’s squad are New Zealand Breakers’ Taylor Britt, Carlin Davison, Sam Mennenga and Reuben Te Rangi, and Melbourne United’s Shea Ili and Sam Waardenburg.

Those six will be joined by NBL26 players Mojave Cairns (Cairns), Taine Murray (Brisbane), Tohi Smith-Milner (Brisbane) and Tai Webster (New Zealand).

Rounding out the squad are former NBL athletes Jordan Ngatai and Sam Timmins, who most recently played in Japan and Hong Kong respectively.

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Of this squad, Britt, Davison, Mennenga, Murray, Ngatai, Smith-Milner, Te Rangi and Timmins will all return for the second consecutive FIBA World Cup Qualifying window.

“It’s great to have the continuity. It’s always been an important piece for any Tall Black team,” Flavell said.

“Part of the reason these camps and windows are so important are because you get to work on that.

“But you also get to work your pieces in and see where this team could look further down the road. There’s some great depth there across the board.”

“You look at the roster we’ve constructed, and you step back and look at it and you go… wow, we’ve got a lot of guys that have worn the Tall Blacks singlet for a long time but a mix of enthusiasm with those younger guys too.”

The first of the Tall Blacks’ fixtures during this window will be at Spark Arena on July 3 against the Philippines, before taking on Guam at Eventfinda Stadium on July 6.

“Firstly, full respect to these two nations,” Flavell said.

“When it comes to the Philippines, we seem to know a bit about each other now.

“This will be our fifth match-up with them in the last two years.”

The Tall Blacks currently sit in second in Pool A during qualifying, having two wins and two losses to their names.

New Zealand Tall Blacks squad

Taylor Britt
Carlin Davison
Shea Ili
Mojave King
Sam Mennenga
Taine Murray
Jordan Ngatai
Tohi Smith-Milner
Reuben Te Rangi
Sam Timmins
Sam Waardenburg
Tai Webster

New Zealand Tall Blacks fixtures

New Zealand v Phillipines
Friday, July 3
Spark Arena, Auckland

New Zealand v Guam
Monday, July 6
Eventfinda Stadium, Auckland