NZ Breakers' Australian NBL campaign has been boosted by the imminent return of Tall Blacks centre Rob Loe to face Melbourne United on Saturday.
New dad Loe, 29, left the Breakers in February for personal reasons, but will return to the set-up, as they chase a playoff spot.
He played five games of the current ANBL season before his return home, averaging 6.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
The Breakers are 5-12 so far in 2021, with 19 games remaining in the regular season. A playoff spot is not out of reach, but they would need to start winning to close the gap on fourth-placed Brisbane Bullets (10-10).
Additional reinforcements have also arrived for the Breakers in the shape of American import Levi Randolph, fresh from a successful stint with Canton Charge in the recently concluded NBA G-League.
Randolph, 28, averaged 12.9 points per game for the Charge, along with 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
"I felt like it was a great opportunity to further my career," Randolph says.
"A great chance to play basketball, come to - I feel like - a great organisation with great people, and just continue my career and get better."
"We've been lucky," coach Dan Shamir says of Randolph's arrival.
"Levi's a very good player, [I] played against him in Europe. Fortunately, Levi was at a point of his career and season where he'd finished the year in the G-League, looking for his next step.
"[We] managed to get him, [I'm] sure he can help us this year."
Randolph will make his club debut in the Breakers's next game, coming against Melbourne United in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Following Saturday's match, the Breakers will head to their temporary base in Launceston, Tasmania, but could also look to relocate home to New Zealand after the announcement of the trans-Tasman travel bubble coming into effect on April 19.
