NBL Legend to Be Honoured

Saturday, June 17, 2023

A five-time NBL champion is set to be honoured by his former NZNBL club tonight.

NBL legend Mika Vukona is set to be honoured in New Zealand on Friday night, as the former Nelson Giants forward will see his number 14 jersey hung from the rafters in his former home arena.

Vukona won five NBL titles across a 17-year career in the NBL. The first of his championship triumphs came as a member of the South Dragons’ unlikely ascension to the top of the NBL pile, alongside the likes of Adam Gibson and Joe Ingles, while the other four came as a member of the all-conquering Breakers side of the early 2010s.

He played 476 NBL games across four clubs – the Breakers, Dragons, Blaze and Bullets.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The No. 14 will hang from the rafters in Nelson ?<br><br>Catch Mika Vukona's jersey retirement ceremony LIVE on Sky Sport 2 immediately following tonight's game between the Giants and Hawks ?<br><br>Tip-off at 7pm! ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SalsNBL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SalsNBL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/skysportnz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@skysportnz</a> <a href="https://t.co/niGyPM5dsj">pic.twitter.com/niGyPM5dsj</a></p>— Sal’s NBL (@nznbl) <a href="https://twitter.com/nznbl/status/1669449197039521795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Aside from his incredible success in the NBL, Vukona has also established himself as a legend of NZNBL side Nelson, who honour him tonight with the jersey retirement.

Vukona’s sole NZNBL title came as a member of the Giants in 2007, and spent four separate stints with the club over his career for a total of 12 seasons between the years 2000 and 2020.

He played his first game for the club aged just 18 years old, and pulled their jersey on for the final time at the age of 38.