Three local connections have named amongst the former Tall Blacks and NBL stars in the HoopNation NZ Selection team to play Malaysia at Springvale Stadium on July 25.
The team will face the Malaysians in the third game of the six match tour, and again in Hawera at the TSBHub the following night.
This includes Matt Te Huna, Akira Marsters and Matangirei Hipango.
Te Huna, who has Whanganui family, is a veteran of both the Manawatu Jets and the Hawkes Bay Hawkes in the NBL, finishing his time with the Hawkes after last season due to commuting from the Manawatu.
Marsters is a former Nelson Giant in the NBL and New Zealand Under 23 captain, while Hipango has been based at Manukura School in Palmerston North, which made last year's playoffs at the SAS Secondary Schools National Basketball Championships.
Also in the team are former Tall Blacks Paora Winitana and Everad Bartlett, both also veterans of the NZ Breakers and other Australian NBL teams.
Others to watch are Taranaki Mountain-Airs player Emmerson Potts-Broughton, Alabama's former multiple-time NBL winner Kareem Johnson and Tauranga's Jayden Bezzant, a former NZ Under 18 representative on scholarship to college in Idaho.
