Breakers could field all-Kiwi line-up due to coronavirus impacts, owner says

With the impacts of coronavirus on the world of sport increasingly uncertain, New Zealand basketball could emerge as a major winner, the Breakers potentially able to field an entirely Kiwi roster once the NBL resumes.

As current travel restrictions see both the New Zealand and Australian borders closed to combat the spread of Covid-19, NBL sides could be forced to look elsewhere to fill the void left by a number of high-profile foreign players.

The Breakers themselves would be hit hard if unable to look overseas for recruits, with players such as Scotty Hopson, Sek Henry and RJ Hampton just some of the big names to grace the court for the league's only Kiwi team.

However, with a number of top Kiwi prospects having returned home to New Zealand from across the globe, one short term solution could mean the Breakers end up the big winners from the current pandemic.

"That's a pretty good possibility, and something that we're at least planning for and preparing for," Walsh told 1 NEWS.

"We're very fortunate that being 'the New Zealand team', there's so many good high level Kiwis around the world - a lot of those guys have had to come home."

Walsh doesn't appear to be bluffing either, with a list of names ready to approach should he be required to fill the Breakers' roster at short notice.

"Issac Fotu, Tai Webster, Corey's brother. Corey [Webster] just got back in the country. You've got college guys like Yanni Wetzell, Jack Salt, who didn't play last year.

"We're in contact with all these guys.

"Obviously a lot can happen between now and then, but there's a pretty good chance that our team looks a lot like the Tall Blacks.

"Which again, puts us in [with] a really good chance. I think we can win the league like that.

"It's exciting and I think it would be pretty cool to march out a team that's all Kiwis in a league that's playing against Australians."

The 2020/21 NBL season isn't scheduled to begin until October this year, leaving plenty of time for teams to begin the process of recovery from the impacts of Covid-19.