Le'afa, Breakers a Dream Pairing

Written for nbl.com.au by Chris Pike

Nothing but sheer hard work saw Izayah Le'afa achieve one half of his dream making it as a professional basketballer, but now to be able to return home and do it with the New Zealand Breakers will take things to a whole new level.

When Le'afa was growing up in Wellington, much of his admiration of the Breakers during their run of winning four NBL championships in five years between 2011 and 2015 was done from afar, but he did see it as one of his dreams to one day pull on that uniform.

However, what Le'afa wanted above everything else was to become a professional basketball player. He set out on his journey by attending Sacramento State (California State University), where he spent four years before graduating in 2020.

Soon, Le'afa was lining up for the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the NBL. He broke through to earn his opportunities in NBL21 where he produced some standout performances to end up averaging 6.1 points, 1.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds a game.

His role stepped up even further with the Phoenix in NBL22 where he started all 26 of his matches to put up 8.8 points, 2.8 boards and 2.2 assists, while earning a reputation as one of the best lockdown defenders across the competition.

The 25-year-old will always appreciative to coach Simon Mitchell and the Phoenix for providing that chance, but he was still craving more.

The prospect of playing in front of family and friends was a big part in seeking a return home, but so was the chance to experience playing in front of the Breakers fans who have been so denied the last two years.

"I think just being able to go back to playing the point at Breakers will definitely be a step that I'm looking forward to," Le'afa said. 

"At Phoenix we had some pretty good players so I just had to find my role wherever that was and all I am about is winning, so I don’t mind if I have to score, play D or whatever it may be. 

"I just want to do the little things to help my team win, but moving forward I'm definitely looking forward to the new opportunity at Breakers and definitely building the culture back before COVID and going back to the championships. I'm definitely super excited of showing more of what I've got to offer."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Izayah Le&#39;Afa is heading home to the <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NZBreakers</a> after two years with the Phoenix ??<br><br>More on his decision to sign with the Breakers for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> ?? <a href="https://t.co/ZAWNTgUB1t">https://t.co/ZAWNTgUB1t</a> <a href="https://t.co/SlHymtrk5S">pic.twitter.com/SlHymtrk5S</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1535376766633914368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The four years at college, the last two years in the NBL and also what he did in the NZNBL has led Le'afa to this opportunity. 

"I wouldn’t have it any other way, it's never an easy path and I just put the amount of unseen hours and hard work into it that they could," he said. 

"You know you might just get that one opportunity and it's about making the most of that opportunity. My teammates have been so supportive and I had to make sure I gave it 100 per cent. From then on it just kind of saw opportunities take over itself and I tried to keep making the most of it.

"Nothing's guaranteed in my eyes so every day I just try to keep working and working just to make sure I'm putting in the hours and the work. I see my teammates doing it too and that makes me want to work even harder. 

"To be able to be in that position, I was just very thankful and blessed. Obviously the work doesn’t stop, but just to keep doing what I was doing there and now with the Breakers is the goal."

As a proud New Zealander, Le'afa grew up an admirer of the Breakers especially, watching on as they won the championships in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015, but growing up in Lower Hutt and being more of a Wellingtonian than associated to Auckland, he was a little bit removed.

What he did know growing up was that he wanted nothing more than to get the chance to play at the highest level possible.

"It's awesome. It's a good opportunity for me after growing up watching them as the only team from New Zealand," Le'afa said.

"I'd watch them every weekend whenever they were playing just sitting at home so it's definitely a dream come true. Just being in the league is awesome, but to now be playing for the only New Zealand team is definitely an opportunity I'm looking forward to.

"Just watching it growing up and seeing them be known not only for their winning back then by winning four in five years was pretty outstanding, but it was the culture they had built too that makes you want to be part of it. 

"I don’t know if I really dreamed of playing for the Breakers as much as I dreamed of playing professional basketball, and I didn’t mind where that was. That was the goal but now to be fortunate enough to be back in New Zealand and be able to get my family back to games is a big thing."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3?&#39;AFA<br><br>Izayah Le&#39;afa keeping the <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEMelbPhoenix</a> in this thing.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> live on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/O04bGz9AFh">pic.twitter.com/O04bGz9AFh</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1504399252914548740?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It's been quite the long six years since Le'afa has been able to get back home on a permanent basis, which makes the move even more significant. 

"They weren’t able to get over to Australia to watch our games so that's definitely an exciting part of having these home games too," he said.

"They did get to watch one game last year but that was the only game since college before COVID that they've seen me play live. So it's definitely an exciting part to now have them there to watch."

As part of the Phoenix, Le'afa did get to play the Breakers at Spark Arena at the back end of the 2020/21 season. That gave him a taste of the crowd he will now get to play in front of on a regular basis this coming season and he can't wait.

"We were fortunate enough to play against the Breakers in Auckland last year when they got a few games at home at the end of the season and their crowd was like they hadn’t seen games in so long, which they hadn’t," Le'afa said.

"That atmosphere made it good to be back on home soil even though I was on the opposition team and it's now a big factor in me coming on board to give these fans the chance to get back to watching basketball again.

"Just watching on TV back in the day when they had their championships runs and all that, their crowd was pretty amazing.

"I went to a few games when I was younger too so just being part of that, there was so many people there and the atmosphere was amazing with everyone getting behind the team, and with the fans so involved. Without having games for two years, I'm sure they are going to be pretty excited now."

Getting to spend more time with the ball in his hands and running the point was another factor that Le'afa liked about signing with the Breakers, with the likelihood of him sharing that one spot with Will McDowell-White. 

"Will's a top player too, he's a great passer and finisher, and gets his teammates involved too. I'm definitely looking forward to playing alongside him," Le'afa added. 

"It's going to be different obviously and I did have good teammates at Phoenix, but I'm just looking for a bit of a different role and opportunity. 

"I'm looking to pick up the experience from everybody that I can and I've already been around some good players, some veterans and young people so I just try to soak in knowledge from everyone. That's what I'm now most excited about continuing to do at the Breakers."

Since the gruelling NBL season finished for Le'afa and the Phoenix, he's taken some much needed time away to freshen up the mind and body.

"It'll be different after my first two years were at the Phoenix and everything was run differently. It's going to be a new start basically but I'm just pretty excited about it and can't wait to get back to work," he said.

"Once the season finished I took a little bit of time off basketball just to clear the mind and take care of my mental health and all that. I'm back into working on the court now, even though I'm still enjoying some time with family and friends before we start our pre-season work."