Reuben Te Rangi reaches 400 NBL games

Reuben Te Rangi first joined the BNZ Breakers as a teenager, he was part of two NBL championship teams and it's only fitting that 14 seasons later, he celebrates 400 games in the league back with his original club.

Te Rangi joined the BNZ Breakers originally as a development player for the 2012/13 season and would end up being upgraded to a full roster spot, and over the course of four seasons in that first run, he was part of the NBL13 and NBL15 championships.

Life then took him to Australia where he rejoined his former New Zealand coach Andrej Lemanis for four seasons with the Brisbane Bullets as they rejoined the NBL.

From there, he spent three seasons with the South East Melbourne Phoenix and then joined the defending champion Tasmania JackJumpers for NBL25.

Following that, he returned home to the BNZ Breakers and now is in his second season of this return stint and on Sunday in Cairns against the Taipans, he reached a remarkable milestone.

The 32-year-old now shares his life with partner Kaitlin and their children Quinn and Mason, and it's going to be a special occasion when he becomes the 56th player in NBL history to reach 400 games before that achievement will be celebrated at Spark Arena next Friday night.

"I think it's a celebration of not just me getting 400 games, but everyone that helped get me to this position," Te Rangi said.

"My partner, my kids, my parents as well and then just all the other people that have played their role throughout my career.

"I feel like it's a celebration of them as well so the game that we play at home is one where I can hopefully a few of them there to celebrate it with them."

Proud of remarkable achievement

While Te Rangi naturally doesn’t want too much of a fuss made of the personal milestone and is just focused on the tasks at hand for the Breakers in Cairns on Sunday and then back home to Adelaide on Friday.

But at the same time, he is deservedly proud to reach such a significant mark in the NBL.

"I feel like whilst you're in the season and playing games, it's hard not to stay focused on the task at hand but it is nice celebrating some of these things along the way," Te Rangi said.

"I feel like as a kid I was just playing basketball because it was fun and I was also playing a lot of other sports as well but to be able to play 400 games now in 15 years is pretty crazy."

Being a natural leader

Not only is Te Rangi about to play 400 games in the NBL, but what he has done with the Tall Blacks on the international stage makes him one of the greats of New Zealand basketball.

Throw in being a three-time championship winner in the NZNBL as well and he has earned the respect of all his younger teammates with the BNZ Breakers, which does lead to some fun banter within the group.

"Yeah, I feel like you kind of just move into some of those positions as a leader when the group starts getting a bit younger," Te Rangi said.

"Obviously I'm the oldest on this team now so you take on a little bit more responsibility, but I just feel like it's a natural progression.

"I think they just think I'm old, but hopefully they think I'm a little bit wiser than a lot of them.

"But it's weird because I feel like I've skipped a couple of the names which I think I should have and I should be in the big bro or unc bracket. I think I should be but for some reason they've just upgraded me straight to Koro."

Tribute from a teammate

Carlin Davison is someone thriving by having Te Rangi as a teammate both at the BNZ Breakers and the Tall Blacks, and was happy to pay tribute to him ahead of his 400th game.

"He's like the father of the group I would say and he's like a really good dude. You can't ask for a better teammate and he's always there in my ear helping me out," Davison said.

"Obviously he's about to play 400 games so he's played a lot of NBL games, but he's a great dude and I'd go to war with him every day."

Tribute from a former coach

Two aspects of the Tasmania JackJumpers culture that has been built that coach Scott Roth has been most proud of is that once you play for the club, you are a JackJumper for life, and then the opportunities that are given to players that others have discarded.

Te Rangi fits into both those categories and he joined the JackJumpers for NBL25 when no other club had signed him and there was a spot spare following the departure of Jack McVeigh on the eve of the season.

Roth couldn’t believe his luck that Te Rangi was still available and couldn’t have been happier to have him on board for that whole season.

He's also happy to see him thriving back home at the BNZ Breakers.

"Reuben is another great example of someone we signed two years ago when no one wanted him, and we were desperate to find a player at that point and no one had signed him. He came in and we started him, and now he gets a three-year contract in New Zealand," Roth said.

"The first thing Gordie said to me when I saw him was that he loved Reuben and I told him that there's no doubt about it, he's a tremendous kid and Gordie said he spoke very highly about being here with us.

"And he was dynamite with us and it was only for a year, but his impact and his professionalism and his family being here, was a wonderful thing for us.

"He was in the abyss there for a bit not having a job and for us to throw a lifeline to him, and him create another pathway with his work ethic to start with us and now have a three-year deal to go back home to New Zealand is a mini story that we're quite proud of.

"It goes back to our coaches and their work rate, but he's a hell of a kid."