Breakers veteran Reuben Te Rangi reflects on basketball journey before 400th NBL game
When Reuben Te Rangi arrived at the New Zealand Breakers fresh out of high school, he never imagined his basketball career would last long enough to reach 400 NBL games.
More than a decade later, the veteran is preparing to join an exclusive group of players when the Breakers face the Cairns Taipans on Sunday, but Te Rangi said he is unlikely to fully appreciate the achievement until he hangs up his boots.
Of the more than 2100 players to have featured in the NBL, Te Rangi will become the 55th to reach 400 games. The list is even shorter among New Zealanders, with only former Breakers teammates Tom Abercrombie (429) and Mika Vukona (477) having reached the mark.
He is the ninth player in NBL history, and the only active player, to have made more than 100 appearances for three different clubs. He has played 144 games for the Breakers, 106 for the Brisbane Bullets, where he won the NBL’s Most Improved Player and Sixth Man awards, 120 for South East Melbourne Phoenix and 29 for the Tasmania JackJumpers.
Te Rangi credits his longevity to his ability to adapt as basketball has evolved, particularly with the increased reliance on the three-point shot, something he has worked hard to perfect. He has also witnessed the sport’s growth in New Zealand, where demand for court space is becoming an increasing challenge in some cities.
But while reaching 400 games puts Te Rangi among an elite group in the competition’s history, his immediate focus remains on helping the Breakers return to the top of Australian basketball.
“I’m grateful that my career’s gone longer than I ever expected, just because you never know what’s around the corner, injuries and whatnot, but to play 400 games is just amazing,” Te Rangi told the Herald.
“If I’m being honest, right now in the moment, I just want to win games. I want to win another championship. But I feel like after I retire and when I settle down and look back on my career, I’m going to think that’s an amazing achievement.”
The milestone will come in North Queensland, with the Breakers planning to honour Te Rangi at their next home game against the Adelaide 36ers on October 30.
However, he admitted celebrating the achievement before a game will be difficult, with his attention likely to remain on the task at hand.
“The hard thing is it being before a game. I feel so locked in for the game that trying to celebrate something too much is a hard thing to do,” Te Rangi said.
“My mind is hopefully on the game more so than the achievement.”
Te Rangi’s career began with the Breakers after he progressed through the club’s academy, having first taken up basketball at about 9 years old.
He was part of the team that won the 2012-13 championship, making 11 appearances as a development player, before playing a bigger role in the Breakers’ title-winning campaign in 2014-15.
Those early years gave him the opportunity to learn from some of the club’s most influential figures, including Vukona, Abercrombie, Dillon Boucher and C.J. Bruton.
Going from being a standout player at school to one of the youngest and least experienced players in a professional environment was a significant adjustment, but one Te Rangi believes helped shape the player he became.
“You go from being the best player to being one of the lowest players on a team,” Te Rangi said. “That’s a hard adjustment for an 18-year-old.
“But the best part about it is I got to learn how to become a professional and be around the likes of Mika Vukona and Tom Abercrombie, Dillon Boucher and C.J. Bruton.
“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re young hearing all this advice because you’re so locked into wanting to be a better player and get to the places you want to. But all of those things have come true.”
The lesson he took from those experiences is one he now passes on to younger players: consistency and the willingness to put in the work every day.
“I feel like I tell kids this as well, just turning up every day,” he said. “Sometimes the hardest thing is getting out of bed, turning up to training, and that’s just your first step to getting on the court, getting better and becoming a good athlete.
“I feel like I always try to do the little things first, and then they become bigger over time.”
Te Rangi has spent his entire career in the NBL and while there may have been opportunities to go overseas, he has no regrets.
“When you’re young, you’re trying to work your way into a roster,” Te Rangi said.
“I had an opportunity to go over and work my way up in Europe and do some of those things. But I feel like sometimes you want to solidify yourself in a league and then once that happens you want to play well in the league,
“You kind of do look back and you’re like, I should have just taken the opportunity when it happened, but I never regret what I’ve done. I’ve loved every moment of being in the NBL.”
Te Rangi has had to adapt to the changing demands of the game throughout his career.
He believes the NBL has continued to grow in quality, with the standard of players improving as the competition has developed.
For him, being able to evolve alongside the league has been central to his staying power.
“I feel like for me, my game, I’m really good at adapting. The game’s changed a lot since I’ve been in the league,” Te Rangi said.
“[NBL director] Larry [Kestelman] has done an awesome job with the league as well, getting it to where it is and getting the calibre of players in the league. It’s just gone from strength to strength, and I think adapting has probably been my biggest strength.”
The shift towards the three-point shot is one example. Te Rangi admitted his long-range shooting was once a weakness but it has become a reliable part of his game.
“When I first started, I had no idea where my shot was going, my three-point shot to be exact,” he said. “And now I can fully rely on my three-point shot, and I feel like that’s the way the game’s going at the moment.”
Te Rangi’s importance to the Breakers extends beyond his experience on the court, with teammate Carlin Davison describing him as the dad of the Breakers.
Davison grew up watching Te Rangi play alongside fellow Breakers greats Corey Webster and Abercrombie, making the opportunity to share the court with him a special one.
“When I first started playing basketball, he was one of the first guys I watched,” Davison said.
“Even when I first signed with the Breakers and he was alongside me, it was crazy to be like, ‘Oh, I’m actually sharing the court with this dude’.”
Now playing alongside him, Davison has seen first-hand the influence Te Rangi has within the group, through his experience and the way he carries himself.
“He’s a great dude, great leader. I called him the dad of the group the other day, but he’s definitely the overall leader and you wouldn’t want anyone else in that position,” Davison said.
“He’s seen every situation, he’s been in every situation. He was born to be a leader. He’s a great dad, a great teammate. It’s awesome to have him here.”
The Breakers have endured a challenging start to the season, with a difficult early schedule with six road games and injuries to key players including Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Josiah-Jordan James contributing to their 4-4 record.
But Te Rangi remains confident the team have the personnel and coaching staff to compete for a championship once they find their rhythm.
“I want to bring a championship back to the New Zealand Breakers,” he said. “I feel like we have the team to do it. I feel like we have the coaching staff to do it and, once everything clicks for this team, I feel like we’re going to be a great team.”
While hanging up the boots is not on the radar any time soon, Te Rangi has begun thinking about what life after basketball might look like.
He has completed the study required to become a mortgage broker in Australia while continuing his playing career, giving him a potential pathway beyond the court.
He has also found a way to remain involved in the sport through Plus Minus Hoops, an app he launched with fellow New Zealand international Shea Ili.
Three years in the making, the platform is designed to help players of different abilities access basketball knowledge and development opportunities through personalised workouts, online coaching, video analysis and feedback.
The app launched this month and has already attracted nearly 500 users, according to Te Rangi.
For him, the project is an opportunity to share the lessons he has learned throughout his career while helping the next generation improve.
“We just want to spread the word of basketball obviously and get it to as many people as we can,” Te Rangi said.
“All the things that we’ve learned over our careers we want to be able to pass on to the next generation and we thought how do we get to the most people and that’s online.
“I want to have the coaching side, Plus Minus, and then mortgage broking, so I can make money but also give back to the next generation.”
While reaching 400 NBL games is a milestone few players achieve, Te Rangi is not ready to stop there. His focus remains on adding another championship to his resume – and making the most of the time he has left on the court.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.