The New Zealand Breakers will be without the services of star centre Ben Melmeth for the remainder of the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) season.
Melmeth suffered a tendon tear in his right foot last Saturday night during the Breakers' 110-100 win over the Hunter Pirates.
The 2.08m Australian will have hisinjured foot in a "moon boot" for the next three weeks and will be re-assessed in mid-February.
However, it's expected it may take another month following that assessment before Melmeth was able to take the court again.
The 2003/2004 ANBL regular season finishes at the end of February with the playoffs to follow.
The Breakers are 10th on the ladder with a 9-18 win-loss record in their debut season and still retain a faint shot at making the eight-team playoffs.
Melmeth will be placed on injury waiver for the remainder of the season, which offers the club the option of bringing in a replacement from outside the current squad.
Head coach Frank Arsego said while the option was there, he was leaning towards sticking with his current squad.
"It'd be very hard to find a big man who was the right player to fit in at this stage of the season," Arsego said.
"The players have formed a very close-knit squad and Blake Truslove and Iona Enosa have done a fantastic job for us whenever Ben has been out."
"Ben will be very disappointed he didn't get the opportunity to finish off the year and we will miss his experience and input that helps give the group stability so we can continue to grow as a team."
Melmeth, the Breakers leading rebounder this season with 8.4 per game, said he was hoping for some good news following a scan this week but feared the worst.
The former Australian international had earlier this month missed two matches with a stress injury on the sole of his foot but felt he had almost fully recovered prior to the Pirates game.
"I'd been back into training fulltime and felt really great going into the game against the Pirates," Melmeth said.
The injury caps an incredibly frustrating first year with the Breakers for the 28-year-old, who missed seven games earlier this season with a serious thigh injury.
"It's been a funny year," he said wryly.
"It's been my worst season for injuries since I had two stress fractures in my first season at the Sydney Kings," said the nine-year veteran of the ANBL who averaged 14.2 points per game in 17 appearances this season.
