Source: Radio New Zealand
Mexican teenager Karim Lopez will play his final game for the Breakers on Sunday before going into the NBA draft. photosport
The New Zealand Breakers players won’t pocket all of the prize money from the Ignite Cup final.
Sunday’s finale of the inaugural in-season tournament between the Breakers and Adelaide 36ers ensures nobody leaves the Gold Coast empty-handed with the champions taking home A$300,000 and the runners-up A$100,000.
Prize money in the Australian NBL is unique to the Ignite Cup, and while pundits have debated how the prize money should be split, with suggestions it should all go to the players, the official line from the NBL is that 60 percent goes to the players directly and the remainder to the club.
Breakers president of basketball Dillon Boucher said the club would not be giving all the money to the players.
“Unfortunately anything that goes more than 60 percent to the players goes on your salary cap, so I think teams making smart decisions would probably not give it all to the players rather than incur some luxury tax by giving the players extra money.
“I think 60 percent is a fair amount to go to the players and obviously there is a lot of factors and a lot of people that are involved in making the team successful, so it’s only fair that they share in the success of the Ignite Cup profits.”
Not every player was focused on the cash.
Centre Sam Mennenga made an unexpected comeback from what was described as a season-ending wrist injury against the Cairns Taipans on Thursday night and will be available to play the 36ers in a boost for the Breakers and for the Tall Black who is looking off-season playing opportunities overseas.
“There is money on the line – I don’t really care about the money, but I’d rather us have the money than Adelaide have the money.”
The Breakers will tip off their final game of the season as underdogs.
After failing to make the post-season, by finishing seventh, the Breakers can still end an injury-hit rollercoaster of a season with a valuable victory but it will be against the odds.
For the majority of the Ignite Cup, played mid-week and with competition points for every quarter won, the Breakers were dominant. The Auckland-based club won the first three of their Cup games while losing games not played on Wednesdays with regularity.
The Breakers lost their fourth game of the Cup competition to finish second on the ladder behind the 36ers who also won three out of four games but edged the Breakers by winning an extra quarter for an additional competition point to qualify in top spot for the final.
While the Ignite Cup was where the Breakers shone, the 36ers are also sitting in second on the regular season table with a chance of winning a Championship and Cup double.
Adelaide beat the Breakers every time they met this season. Three wins, one in overtime, all by fewer than five points.
The Breakers and 36ers did not play against each other during the Ignite Cup. The two sides last met a week ago with the 36ers putting together a fourth-quarter comeback to win 92-89 on their home court in the regular season. The Breakers had the lead for 36 minutes of the 40 minute game and had an 18 point advantage at one stage before Adelaide got the win.
Mennenga missed that game as did Next StarKarim Lopez, who will both be back from injury for the crucial clash. Breakers coach Petteri Koponen also managed minutes in the Breakers’ last regular season game on Thursday to give the roster the best shot of being the first Ignite Cup winners.
Tai Webster and Izaiah Brockington will be game time decisions for Sunday after missing the Taipans game.
The final will be played in neutral territory, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, in a region that does not have an NBL team at the moment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
