While the NBL remains a pipe dream for another year, it will play five games in 2019.
Basketball Otago general manager Justin Ludlow confirmed the games yesterday, as the organisation looks to fill the void for its men as the region enters its fifth year without an NBL team.
It will play a tournament in March in Dunedin against the Canterbury Knights - the team beneath the NBL's Rams - and a Southland Sharks summer league squad.
A game against a full-strength NBL defending champion Sharks team will follow in the lead-up to the national league.
Later in the year, a tournament in Christchurch will be held in which the side will play the Knights and Nelson Suns, the team below the NBL's Giants.
It is the most comprehensive package the organisation has put together for its men in several years.
Over the past two years, it has played one game each year against an understrength Sharks side, coming away with a win and a loss.
Prior to that, it travelled to the now defunct National Basketball Championship tournament.
Alongside the Sharks, the Knights represent a tough game, as they draw on the depth in a very strong Canterbury club competition.
