Former Breakers player and coach Kevin Braswell has died in Japan, aged 46.
Braswell, who was born in Baltimore, underwent emergency heart surgery last month. He had been coaching in Japan.
The talented American guard joined the Breakers in 2010 and also played for the Southland Sharks and the Wellington Saints in the National Basketball League.
He had five seasons with the Sharks and played alongside club stalwart Andrew Wheeler.
"He was competitive, charismatic, bubbly. He had been around and seen everything," Wheeler said when asked what Braswell was like off the court.
"Sometimes we get imports that are quite into themselves. They just come for a short period of time and do their job and leave. But he wasn't that at all.
"He met with people in the community, talked to the kids, really engaged with anyone that was around him.
"You can see just from looking on social media — how many people he sort of had an impact on and how close they were just through his energy."
The point guard helped the Breakers win the Australian NBL title in 2011, and the Sharks nabbed two titles (2013, 2015) during his stint in Invercargill.
He had a huge impact on basketball in Southland.
The Sharks formed in 2010 and Braswell signed the following season.
"So he was right there from early doors and helped form who the organisation was," Wheeler said.
"He was someone that was confident with travelling and confident meeting new people and was just a natural leader.
"He was coming off success with the Breakers ... and just someone that the organisation really benefited from having around."
Braswell began his basketball career with Georgetown University before going into professional leagues in Belgium and Poland in 2003.
But it was with the Breakers and the Sharks where he enjoyed his most success.
Braswell’s coaching career began in Wellington with the Saints in 2016. He also had coaching stints with the Breakers, Auckland Huskies and most recently with Utsunomiya Brex in Japan.
Breakers great Tom Abercrombie, in Arrowtown for the New Zealand Open golf tournament, was gutted to wake up to the news about his former team-mate and coach.
"It’s really, really sad. Just someone that’s gone way too soon — it’s not fair," Abercrombie said.
He paid tribute to Braswell as someone who was "universally loved" as a player, and more importantly, as a person.
"You won’t find one team-mate, one person, that came across KB that didn’t love him.
"He was one of those imports that just came to New Zealand and fit into New Zealand culture straight away.
"He was a massive part of us winning that first championship with the Breakers and beloved by so many basketball fans in the country."
