Basketball players at Rangiora’s Mainpower Stadium spent an evening with 2.1-meter-tall former NBA player, Kai Martinez Jones.

Jones was visiting his in-laws in North Canterbury last week, with his wife Freya Lodge Jones (nee Whitham), after their gala wedding held in the Bahamas in June, and had called into the stadium to talk to youth players.

The couple live in Istanbul, where Kai plays for Anadolu Efesin in the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi and the EuroLeague, after playing for several NBA teams.

Jones is well-known internationally for his rap and basketball videos on TikTok and Instagram, and his fame extended to Canterbury, where, according to his mother-in-law Sarah Whitham, he was constantly approached for photos and autographs when walking around Christchurch over the weekend.

“The young people seem to know him well from his videos, and all wanted a selfie with him,” she said.

During his brief visit, Jones attended training sessions with the Canterbury Rams and spoke to students from Rangiora High School and Pegasus Bay School.

Jones said he was loving it here, and he's found Kiwi basketballers are very passionate about basketball.

Freya, a former member of the NZ U17 national Soccer team, received a soccer scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in the USA, where she studied business management.

She said she met Kai at a Charlotte Hornets game, when she asked him to sign a Nike shoe.

He asked her on a date, and they were engaged on New Year's Eve in 2022.

Jones recently signed a two-year contract extension to continue playing in Turkey, while still hoping to return to the NBA.

He said although the couple had a brief honeymoon, his training and game schedule is packed for the next few months as he participates in the Bahamas team for the 2027 Basketball World Cup qualifying matches across South America.