The NZ Breakers have signed two more Australians in Sean Bairstow and Grant Anticevich to their 2024-25 Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) roster.
Bairstow, 23, has signed his first professional contract with the Breakers after playing NCAA Division I basketball in the United States for five years.
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The versatile small forward brings the experience of playing 142 games for Utah and Virginia and is the first signing of new Breakers’ head coach Petteri Koponen.
He is the brother of former ANBL player Cameron Bairstow and also Brisbane Bullets power forward Jarred Bairstow, who spent the last three seasons with the Tasmanian JackJumpers and won the ANBL title earlier this year.
“Sean is a long, athletic wing who can play multiple positions and gives us options in the rotation in what will be a very demanding season,” said Koponen.
“He is not afraid to put the ball on the floor and drive to the rim but is also comfortable on the block and from the perimeter.”
Listed at 6-foot-7, Koponen sees Bairstow’s size and guard skills as two critical assets to the Breakers.
He was also impressed with how he recovered from a foot fracture that delayed the start of his final year in US college basketball.
Bairstow ultimately played 29 games for Virginia, averaging 10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists during 11.3 minutes of court time.
Bairstow can create for his teammates, which was also highly attractive to Koponen.
In January, he dropped a career-high 12 assists to go with 14 points against the La Salle Explorers, while a month earlier, Bairstow hit 22 points against Gardner-Webb University.
Anticevich has signed on from BC Gottingen to the Breakers.
The small forward played 25.4 minutes over 34 games in Germany last season, averaging 7.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists.
Anticevich is already known to Kiwi basketball fans after playing for the Southland Sharks in the National Basketball League (NBL) ast year.
The 25-year-old also arrives with the added experience of playing NCAA Division I for five years, where he made 139 appearances for the California Golden Bears.
However, it will not be Anticevich’s first taste of the NBL having previously played 18 games for the South East Melbourne Phoenix two seasons ago.
Bairstow and Anticevich are the seventh and eighth players confirmed to the 12-strong Breakers’ squad for NBL25.
They join a roster spearheaded by All-ANBL First Team selection Parker Jackson-Cartwright, 2023 LA Lakers draft pick and NZ-born Mojave King, the sole New Zealander Sam Mennenga, 2021 ANBL champion Mitch McCarron, former Philadelphia 76er Jonah Bolden and returning big man Dane Pineau.
Two import spots and one local spot are still to be filled, and the Breakers are also likely to sign another ANBL ‘Next Star’.
The Breakers have Kiwis Alex McNaught, Carlin Davison and Max Darling signed as development players.
The team assembles on August 12 in Auckland, with the Breakers’ NBL25 season tipping off on September 21 against the Bullets at Hoopsfest in Perth. The first home game is September 29 against the SEM Phoenix at Spark Arena.