There is reason for Breakers to rejoice with news, the prodigal son Kirk Penney is set to return to the club where it all started.
We first broke the news three days ago while reporting the rumors that current Breakers guard Cedric Jackson was expected to sign with the Melbourne United. It seems the official announcement is less than 24 hours away with both the Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand Breakers making timely announcements on their Twitter accounts today.
We regret to announce that Kirk Penney will not be returning to the club for the 2016/17 @NBL season.https://t.co/p8t5DzycrZ
— Illawarra Hawks (@illawarrahawks) April 11, 2016
Hey #breakernation more great news coming your way tomorrow 10.30am- stay tuned!
— SKYCITY Breakers NZ (@NZBreakers) April 11, 2016
The deal to be announced at 10.30am tomorrow is reportedly for three years. The term of the contract making a lot of sense when combined with the Breakers most recent re-signing of Alex Pledger (who almost became a Brisbane Bullet) who also signed a three year deal. Paul Henare now has two cornerstones cemented in the Breakers camp to build around and return to the NBL’s elite.
Kirk Penney earned league MVP honors whilst there in 2009, led the Breakers to their first title in 2011 and played his first 110 NBL games in Breakers colours.
The Illawarra Hawks losing both Kirk Penney and Kevin Lisch in one week leaves a huge hole in the Hawks roster. The new NBL rules clearly effecting the league’s smaller market teams as outlined in our recent article outlying how the new NBL salary rules are creating a divide between the leagues smaller market teams and it’s larger market teams.
Kirk Penney has also played in the NBA for the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers as well as European powerhouses Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. (Isreal), Žalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania) and Alba Berlin (Germany).
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.
