How former Next Star can shine in New Zealand

For a player who is only 21 years old, Mojave King has already been on an incredible journey over his basketball career.

He was a Next Star with both Adelaide and Cairns, played on a stacked NBA G-League Ignite roster, was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, and had his rights traded to the Indiana Pacers before he endured an injury-struck campaign this past season. 

Now, though, he’s back in the NBL with a point to prove and talent to show.

Mody Maor has typically built his Breakers rosters with experienced, known quantities within the professional game, but the signing of both King and former Taipan Sam Mennenga indicates a slight departure from his tried and tested roster-building formula.

King, at least, was a simple signing for Maor, who says the wing’s personality fits his coaching mould despite his tender age.

“We like to bring in players to this building that have a good amount of self-awareness, who know who they are as people, who they are as basketball players, and who they can be,” Maor told Breakers Media.

“Even though Mojave is young that’s a thread through all of our conversations. There is a high level of self-awareness, the strengths, weaknesses and where he is on his process, that’s a great foundation for any kind of growth.

“Other than that, any other person who interacts with him really likes him. He’s had a great stint in the NZNBL where he played with some of the players that were on the Breakers roster last year, he’s had multiple teammates in different countries and different circumstances, and he was unable to find one person that doesn’t like him as an individual.

“Mojave has been on every NBL team’s radar for a while. There’s a reason he was a Next Star, he was an extremely highly touted youngster.

“It seemed for a moment that trajectory would take him away from the NBL, and I wasn’t sure we would ever get the chance for him to come in and play in the NBL again. We’re lucky and I’m happy we get the opportunity to put him in this environment and see how this plays out.”

King managed just 15 games for the Indiana Mad Ants in the NBA G-League last season, and averaged just 8.9 minutes per game as he wrestled with injury problems.

Because of his limited time on the court, he ended the campaign with dramatically poorer numbers than his prior season with the Ignite, but has already stated his desire to prove himself to the Pacers organisation.

Injury is an adversity most professional athletes must deal with at some point in their career, and Maor believes King has approached the past 12 months with the right mindset in order to build from it.

“Adversity can be a great teacher if you’re open to learning the lessons it brings. From the conversations I’ve had with Mojave over this off-season it feels like he’s done that work and that process.

“He’s taken a level of ownership around how things have played out for himself and he’s definitely leaned into the lessons those circumstances have brought him.

“It will make his assimilation into our environment a lot easier and smoother.”