2022 New Zealand NBL season

The 2022 NBL season was the 41st season of the National Basketball League. For the second year in a row, the league fielded 10 teams, with the only changes being the rebrand of the Auckland Huskies to Auckland Tuatara and Taranaki Mountainairs to Taranaki Airs.

2022 New Zealand NBL season
League	New Zealand NBL
Sport	Basketball
Duration	28 April – 13 August
Number of games	18
Number of teams	10
Regular season
Minor premiers	Taranaki Airs
Season MVP	Xavier Cooks (Wellington Saints)
Top scorer	Anthony Hilliard (Taranaki Airs)
Finals
Champions	Otago Nuggets
Runners-up	Auckland Tuatara
Grand Final MVP	Keith Williams

The regular season commenced on 28 April in Nelson with the Nelson Giants hosting the Otago Nuggets at the Trafalgar Centre. The season contained 15 weeks of regular season games followed by a four-day finals schedule in August.^[1][2]

Team information

Team	City	Arena	Colours	Head coach	Import	Import	Import
Auckland Tuatara	Auckland	Eventfinda Stadium		Aaron Young	Chris Johnson	Siler Schneider
Canterbury Rams	Christchurch	Cowles Stadium		Judd Flavell	Larry Austin Jr.	Sunday Dech	Matthew Moyer
Franklin Bulls	Auckland	Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre		Morgan Maskell	Giddy Potts
Hawke's Bay Hawks	Napier	Pettigrew Green Arena		Mick Downer	Tajuan Agee
Manawatu Jets	Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu		Natu Taufale	John Bohannon	Rob Crawford	Zane Najdawi
Nelson Giants	Nelson	Trafalgar Centre		Michael Fitchett	Trey Mourning	Sam Thompson	Jarrod West
Otago Nuggets	Dunedin	Edgar Centre		Brent Matehaere	Tray Boyd III	Keith Williams	Todd Withers
Southland Sharks	Invercargill	Stadium Southland		Rob Beveridge	Romaro Gill	Daishon Knight	Winston Shepard
Taranaki Airs	New Plymouth	TSB Stadium		Trent Adam	Javonte Douglas	Anthony Hilliard	Shaun Willett
Wellington Saints	Wellington	TSB Bank Arena		Troy McLean	Xavier Cooks	Mike Smith	Reggie Upshaw

Summary

Regular season standings

Pos	Team	W	L	Qualification
1	Taranaki Airs	12	6	Semi Finals
2	Nelson Giants	12	6
3	Otago Nuggets	10	8	Play-in
4	Wellington Saints	10	8
5	Auckland Tuatara	10	8
6	Hawke's Bay Hawks	10	8
7	Canterbury Rams	8	10
8	Franklin Bulls	7	11
9	Southland Sharks	6	12
10	Manawatu Jets	5	13

Source: NZNBL

Finals

	Play-In Matches					Semi Finals					Final
						1	Taranaki Airs	104
	4	Wellington Saints	87			5	Auckland Tuatara	107
	5	Auckland Tuatara	92									Auckland Tuatara	73
												Otago Nuggets	81
						2	Nelson Giants	74
	3	Otago Nuggets	91			3	Otago Nuggets	89
	6	Hawke's Bay Hawks	80

Awards

Performance of the Week

Round	Player	Team	Ref
1	Trey Mourning	Nelson Giants	[3]
2	Jayden Bezzant	Franklin Bulls	[4]
3	Chris Johnson	Auckland Tuatara	[5]
4	Trey Mourning	Nelson Giants	[6]
5	Javonte Douglas	Taranaki Airs	[7]
6	Chris Johnson	Auckland Tuatara	[8]
7	Xavier Cooks	Wellington Saints	[9]
8	Jarrod West	Nelson Giants	[10]
9	Javonte Douglas	Taranaki Airs	[11]
10	Anthony Hilliard	Taranaki Airs	[12]
11	Corey Webster	Franklin Bulls	[13]
12	Javonte Douglas	Taranaki Airs	[14]
13	Sam Thompson	Nelson Giants	[15]
14	Xavier Cooks	Wellington Saints	[16]
15	Tray Boyd III	Otago Nuggets	[17][18]

Statistics leaders

Stats as of the end of the regular season^[19][20]

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game	Anthony Hilliard	Taranaki Airs	26.6
Rebounds per game	John Bohannon	Manawatu Jets	14.0
Assists per game	Jarrod West	Nelson Giants	7.3
Steals per game	Dontae Russo-Nance	Auckland Tuatara	2.9
Blocks per game	Romaro Gill	Southland Sharks	2.9

Regular season

• Most Valuable Player: Xavier Cooks (Wellington Saints)^[21][22]
• Most Outstanding Guard: Jarrod West (Nelson Giants)
• Most Outstanding NZ Guard: Corey Webster (Franklin Bulls)
• Most Outstanding Forward: Xavier Cooks (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding NZ Forward/Centre: Robert Loe (Auckland Tuatara)
• Scoring Champion: Anthony Hilliard (Taranaki Airs)
• Rebounding Champion: John Bohannon (Manawatu Jets)
• Assist Champion: Jarrod West (Nelson Giants)
• Most Improved Player: Sam Dempster (Nelson Giants)
• Defensive Player of the Year: Jarrod West (Nelson Giants)
• Youth Player of the Year: Dontae Russo-Nance (Auckland Tuatara)
• Coach of the Year: Michael Fitchett (Nelson Giants)
• All-Star Five:
  • G: Jarrod West (Nelson Giants)
  • G: Anthony Hilliard (Taranaki Airs)
  • F: Javonte Douglas (Taranaki Airs)
  • F: Xavier Cooks (Wellington Saints)
  • C: Chris Johnson (Auckland Tuatara)

Finals

• Grand Final MVP: Keith Williams (Otago Nuggets)^[23][24]