NZ Breakers tip off their Australian NBL season on Saturday but opening night isn't all that will be celebrated.
Club icon Tom Abercrombie will play his 400th game for the club, 15 years after his first.
Even as he gets ready for his 16th season, Abercrombie still remembers day one.
Fifteen years since an unknown, untapped and untried 21-year-old ran across the baseline and hit a three, the Breakers captain will this weekend chalk up his quadruple century.
"This place is like a second home for me," he said. "It's taken up a massive amount of my life.
"When you sit back and reflect on that, it's a huge amount of time and relationships."
Though, there is one regret.
"Back in the day, I wish I'd dunked it a little bit more," he added.
Those dunks aren't the only highs he's reached as a one-club man, most-notably winning four titles including a threepeat and finals MVP.
But there's one long low that stands out above them all - the COVID-19 enforced relocation.
"There's no denying, that was two of the most difficult years of my life," he said. "In a personal and professional sense.
"[We] went through a heck of a lot. [It] just feels like a bad dream now."
Abercrombie believes those tough times were a big reason for last season's success though, before they fell at the final hurdle. That is among what still drives him.
Even at 36, he's not ready to hang up the sneakers.
"I'm still enjoying myself. The body is in one piece, so it's a good place to start from," he said.
"We'll see how the year goes."
