2025 New Zealand NBL season

The 2025 NBL season was the 44th season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to 12 teams in 2025 with the debut of the Indian Panthers, but later decreased to 11 teams in May following the withdrawal of the Panthers.

2025 New Zealand NBL season
League	New Zealand NBL
Sport	Basketball
Duration	12 March – 20 July
Number of games	20
Number of teams	11
Regular season
Minor premiers	Wellington Saints
Season MVP	Josiah Allick (Southland Sharks)
Top scorer	Jeremy Combs (Nelson Giants)
Finals
Champions	Wellington Saints
Runners-up	Southland Sharks
Grand Final MVP	Hyrum Harris (Wellington Saints)

The 2025 season saw the pre-season blitz return,^[1] followed by the regular season starting on 12 March.^[2] The finals took place from 9 to 20 July.^[3]

Team information

Team	City	Arena	Colours	Head Coach	Import	Import	Import
Auckland Tuatara	Auckland	Eventfinda Stadium		Cameron Gliddon	Luther Muhammad	Buay Tuach	Charles Pride
Canterbury Rams	Christchurch	Cowles Stadium		Quinn Clinton	Kyle Bowen	Sean Macdonald	CJ Penha
Franklin Bulls	Pukekohe	Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre		Sebastian Gleim	Till Gloger	Tae Hardy	David Okwera
Hawke's Bay Hawks	Napier	Pettigrew Green Arena		Sam Gruggen	Brandon Alston	Daniel Grida	Wani Swaka Lo Buluk
Manawatu Jets	Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu		Tony Webster	Miles Gibson	Kenny Goins	Quinton Rose
Nelson Giants	Nelson	Trafalgar Centre		Michael Fitchett	Jeremy Combs	Andrew Jones	Alex Robinson
Otago Nuggets	Dunedin	Edgar Centre		Mike Kelly	Donald Carey	Jaylen Sebree
Southland Sharks	Invercargill	Stadium Southland		Jonathan Yim	Josiah Allick	Caleb Asberry	Keylan Boone
Taranaki Airs	New Plymouth	TSB Stadium		Sam Mackinnon	Deng Dut	Armon Fletcher	Craig Moller
Tauranga Whai	Tauranga	Mercury Baypark		Matt Lacey	Sean Bairstow
Wellington Saints	Wellington	TSB Bank Arena		Aaron Young	Shaun Bruce	Nick Marshall	Nick Muszynski

Mid-season withdrawal

Team	City	Arena	Colours	Head Coach	Import	Import	Import
Indian Panthers	Auckland	Pulman Arena		Jonathan Goodman	Shengzhe Li

Summary

On 1 May 2025, the Indian Panthers were suspended from the 2025 season with immediate effective, following the team's failure to take the court for their 29 April game against the Canterbury Rams.^[4] On 9 May, the league postponed the Panthers' scheduled games for 14 May against the Southland Sharks and 16 May against the Otago Nuggets.^[5] On 19 May, the Panthers' 20 May game against the Tauranga Whai was postponed.^[6] On 22 May, the Panthers officially withdrew from the NBL due to not being in a position to meet the requirements of the league to complete the season for a variety of reasons. As a result of the Panthers withdrawal, the NBL advised that the 2025 season would be completed with 11 teams and that all results from the nine games played by the Panthers would be removed entirely.^[7] The Panthers had a 0–9 record at the time of their withdrawal.^[8]

Regular season standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Qualification
1	Wellington Saints	20	16	4	Semi Finals
2	Canterbury Rams	20	15	5
3	Taranaki Airs	20	12	8	Play-in
4	Southland Sharks	20	12	8
5	Auckland Tuatara	20	10	10
6	Tauranga Whai	20	9	11
7	Franklin Bulls	20	9	11
8	Manawatu Jets	20	9	11
9	Nelson Giants	20	8	12
10	Hawke's Bay Hawks	20	7	13
11	Otago Nuggets	20	3	17
12	Indian Panthers	0	0	0	Withdrawn

Source: NZNBL

Finals

	Play-In Matches					Semi Finals					Final
						1	Wellington Saints	93
	3	Taranaki Airs	67			6	Tauranga Whai	68
	6	Tauranga Whai	83									Wellington Saints	88
												Southland Sharks	83
						2	Canterbury Rams	82
	4	Southland Sharks	91			4	Southland Sharks	101
	5	Auckland Tuatara	75

Awards

Statistics leaders

Stats as of the end of the regular season^[9][10][11]

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game	Jeremy Combs	Nelson Giants	24.4
Rebounds per game	Josiah Allick	Southland Sharks	11.1
Assists per game	Owen Foxwell	Taranaki Airs	8.0
Steals per game	Quinton Rose	Manawatu Jets	3.7
Blocks per game	Nick Muszynski	Wellington Saints	2.7

Regular season

• Most Valuable Player: Josiah Allick (Southland Sharks)^[12]
• Most Outstanding Guard: Nick Marshall (Wellington Saints)^[13]
• Most Outstanding NZ Guard: Izayah Le'afa (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding Forward: Josiah Allick (Southland Sharks)
• Most Outstanding NZ Forward/Centre: Carlin Davison (Taranaki Airs)
• Scoring Champion: Jeremy Combs (Nelson Giants)
• Rebounding Champion: Josiah Allick (Southland Sharks)
• Assist Champion: Owen Foxwell (Taranaki Airs)
• Most Improved Player: Jackson Ball (Hawkes Bay Hawks)^[14]
• Defensive Player of the Year: Hyrum Harris (Wellington Saints)^[15]
• Youth Player of the Year: Jackson Ball (Hawkes Bay Hawks)^[16]
• Coach of the Year: Aaron Young (Wellington Saints)^[17]
• All-Star Five:
  • G: Nick Marshall (Wellington Saints)^[18]
  • G: Sean Macdonald (Canterbury Rams)
  • F: Carlin Davison (Taranaki Airs)
  • F: Jeremy Combs (Nelson Giants)
  • C: Josiah Allick (Southland Sharks)

Finals

• Grand Final MVP: Hyrum Harris (Wellington Saints)^{[19][20][21][22]}