NZ Breakers import Parker Jackson-Cartwright to return

By Christopher Reive

Mody Maor has achieved a rare feat as he rebuilds his New Zealand Breakers roster from the ground up for another season.

For just the fifth time in the club’s history, one of their imports from the previous season has agreed to return for another campaign, with point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright confirmed for 2024.

Jackson-Cartwright has been re-signed on a one-year deal, joining Cedric Jackson, Gary Wilkinson, Mike Chappell, and Rick Rickert as the only imports to return to the club.

“From a basketball standpoint, this is as close to a home run as it gets,” Maor said.

“We have a focal point, we have a marquee player and now we can tailor the team to fit him and maximise his strengths.

“The real bonus from this is that now we can go and build around him.”

Following the end of the 2023-24 campaign, the Breakers’ roster was almost completely cleared out with only centre Dane Pineau on the books for next season. Jackson-Cartwright is the second signing announced by the club, after they bought Kiwi big man Sam Mennenga out of his contract with the Cairns Taipans.

Jackson-Cartwright’s return is a massive lift for the club, particularly as they will have a fight on their hands to retain the services of guard Will McDowell-White. In a similar situation to that which they faced a year ago, the off-contract Australian is expected to have plenty of suitors.

The Herald understands the reigning champion Tasmania Jackjumpers are among the interested teams, while the Sydney Kings recently bringing Australian Boomers’ coach Brian Goorjian in could make them an attractive landing spot for the 25-year-old.

“This has been one of the more challenging ones. We basically entered this off-season with a completely barren cupboard,” Moar said of the task ahead.

“We still have a lot of dominoes that need to fall and they’re not all going to fall our way. There’s going to be some challenges in this team building but so far I am very happy.”

Maor said he was hopeful the signing would help the club in the next stages of their recruitment process.

“I have to say that all of our previous imports have been our best ambassadors and they’ve been part of our recruitment process. [Jarrell] Brantley was part of recruiting Parker, and Parker will be part of recruiting the next player.”

Jackson-Cartwright returns after an impressive season in which he was a finalist for the league’s MVP award and was among the leaders in points (20.6), assists (5.8), and steals (1.9) per game.

“I took great pride in donning that number six for the Breakers this season and, as the season went on, playing alongside a legend in Tom Abercrombie, you just fall in love with the history, the organisation and wearing that Breakers pink. There’s nothing like it,” Jackson-Cartwright said.

“I re-signed with the Breakers for one simple reason – to win a championship. This club has won multiple championships and when you bring a guy back like myself and build a team that wants to win, you think ‘championship’.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission