Sam Mennenga

Played his rookie professional season with the Cairns Taipans before linking with the BNZ Breakers for the 2024-25 season and played all 29 games in that campaign averaging 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing.

He returned for his second season with the club in 2025-26 and enjoyed a standout campaign as he upped his output to 17.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Mennenga scored a career high 32 points against the Taipans in the last game of the regular season and followed that with a 21-point haul in the thrilling Ignite Cup Final win over the Adelaide 36ers.

His performances earned him the NBL’s Next Generation Award for the 2025-26 season. With a total of 838 points in 57 career games for the Breakers he looks destined to become the next illustrious member of the 1,000 points club.

He played both games for the Tall Blacks in the home World Cup Qualifying ties in July and posted 27 points in the win against Guam.

After growing up in Auckland and attending the renowned basketball factory at Westlake Boys High School, Sam played three years NCAA Division I basketball at Davidson College. He played 87 games for the Wildcats scoring 896 points at 10.3 ppg. In his third and final year (2022-23) he started all 32 games averaging 15.2 points and a team high 6.7 rebounds per game.

Played the 2026 off-season in China for Xinjiang Flying Tigers and has also had stints playing in Greece and Puerto Rico.