NBL EXPERIENCE

Alex McNaught made his NBL debut with the New Zealand Breakers at 20 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

McNaught was a huge fan of the Breakers growing up and was a Sky Sport Breakers’ season ticket holder only two seasons prior to inking a deal to play with the team.

With the departure of Dan Shamir, assistant Mody Maor was elevated to head coach, with the Breakers entering their first season where they would play regular home games in two seasons.

The Breakers lost six of their top eight players (Yanni Wetzell, Hugo Besson, Peyton Siva, Finn Delany, Ousmane Dieng and Chasson Randle), and only Thomas Abercrombie, Robert Loe and William McDowell-White returning from the previous season.

Tom Vodanovich (via Sydney), Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’Afa and Cameron Gliddon (both via South East Melbourne) and rookies Alex McNaught, Jayden Bezzant and Daniel Fotu were added for defence and perimeter shooting off the bench. At the same time, Dererk Pardon, Jarrell Brantley and Barry Brown Jr were signed as import players. Utilising the NBL Next Star Program, the team also added French NBA prospect Rayan Rupert.

With Abercrombie missing the first month of the season due to suffering a torn retina the Breakers’ season began with a loss to Melbourne, a game which gave little indication to the defensive behemoth they were set to become in NBL23 but four rounds into the season, they already equalled their total number of wins from the previous campaign. Two nights later, New Zealand posted their biggest victory ever at Spark Arena with a 94-62 victory over the Tasmania JackJumpers. The win also resulted in the Breakers overtaking Sydney Kings to sit atop the NBL ladder.

After two seasons living out of suitcases, the Breakers had revived themselves as a contender this season, and the following game saw a top of the table clash against Sydney that more than lived up to the hype. The Kings’ led comfortably for most of the game, but a late run from New Zealand, who outscored them 31-17 in the last 10 minutes behind Barry Brown Jr (22 points), who had settled into a sixth man role, narrowed the gap but failed to complete what would have been a epic fight back. The Breakers fell short 81-77 while also losing Rupert for two months with a broken wrist.

New Zealand then became the first team that season to win five straight games after dismantling the South East Melbourne Phoenix (110-84), and by the start of December, had won 11 from 13 contests before losing to the Perth Wildcats (84-92).

Other key games during the Breakers’ run home included former Breakers stalwart Corey Webster, silencing his former club as Perth snapped the New Zealand Breakers’ five-game winning streak with a 92-84 victory. Webster exploded for 16 points in the third quarter, including a stretch of 9 straight, before finishing with a season-high 26 points snap. Barry Brown Jr was the best for New Zealand, putting up 27 points.

a epic Tyler Harvey half-court bomb gave Illawarra their first road win of the season against New Zealand (78-76). The dramatic loss motivated New Zealand, who snapped their four-game losing streak with a 93-88 win over the Sydney Kings in the next game, courtesy of a clutch three-pointer from Jarrell Brantley, and defeating Melbourne United, 80-74, to guarantee the Breakers a playoff spot.

During the final month of the season, New Zealand bounced back and forth with Cairns in a battle for second place but victories over the competition’s bottom two (Brisbane and Illawarra), allowed New Zealand to leapfrog Cairns and finish second overall during the regular season.

McNaught appeared in 14 games for the season, including getting minutes in two playoff encounters against the Tasmanian JackJumpers. He averaged 0.9 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.6 assists, his most notable games being a 13 minute appearance against the Phoenix in his thrid game for New Zealand, helping secure the Breakers their first win in Melbourne for four years. It came during a time when Tom Abercrombie and Will McDowell-White were injured, with coach Mody Maor later declaring that the team could not have won the game without McNaught. It was the first away win for the Breakers in a historic season where they went a astonishing 11-3 on the road in NBL23.

Despite not getting any court time during the Breakers run to the Championship Series he was a part of the team that narrowly lost to Sydney in five games.

2023/24
Prior to the 2023/24 season McNaught signed a three-year extension to his Development Player Contract.

“My goal with this new contract extension is to try and cement my place in the team and make consistent minutes,” says McNaught.

“With Mody showing his trust by offering me this extension, I know I will make leaps and bounds in the future.”

Alex McNaught played two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers..

Dan Boyce (811 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.