The Indian Panthers‘ introduction into the National Basketball League (NBL) is just under 36 hours away and who will take the court for them is still unknown.
The Panthers - with a yet to be confirmed roster - are due to take on the Hawke’s Bay Hawks at Napier's Rodney Green Arena in the 2025 season-opener on Wednesday night (tip-off 7pm).
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The expansion and foreign-owned franchise, who will play their home games out of South Auckland’s Bruce Pulman Arena, have announced just six player signings to date - five Indians and one American.
However, with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) naming an extended squad for a national team training camp this week ahead of their 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Final Qualifying Tournament from March 21-23, the Panthers will be without most, if not all, of their players.
Instead, the Panthers have been given a special dispensation by the NBL Commission to fill their roster with New Zealand players for the opening weeks of the season, the NBL said in a statement on Monday, although no players were revealed.
Of the Panthers' five contracted Indian players, only guard Vaisakh Manoj appeared for India during the six games of the second round of FIBA Asia Cup qualifying, for a total of two minutes.
"Similar to when the Tall Blacks call up players from the NBL for national team duty, the same applies for the Panthers and the Indian national team," said former Tall Blacks and NBL veteran Casey Frank, now the league's media, fans and brand manager.
"Ideally you would like it to occur out of season for us, but it happens and it's been great to see a number of Kiwi players step up to help out."
The Panthers' rushed introduction as the league's 12th franchise has been fraught with issues.
The first players were only announced last Tuesday, eight days before their first game, and they did not have a head coach until the following day, when former NBL stalwart Miles Pearce was confirmed.
They had to withdraw at late notice from last week's Westside Blitz NBL preseason tournament on the South Island's West Coast due to the inaugural INBL Pro season in India and subsequent visa issues.