Australian big-man Jonah Bolden has signed a one-year deal with the New Zealand Breakers, sources told ESPN.
Bolden joins a Breakers team, head coached by Mody Maor, that has re-signed star point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, but will have a significantly different look going into the 2024-25 NBL season.
Bolden spent the 2023-24 season with the Sydney Kings, which came after a three-year hiatus from basketball. The 6'10 forward was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 36th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. He would go on to take part in two seasons with the 76ers, and one with the Phoenix Suns, before stepping away from basketball.
Bolden returned to the sport for the 2023-24 season in Sydney, averaging 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and shooting 38 percent from downtown.
The signing of Bolden, 28, is a changing of the guard of high-level local talent in New Zealand, with the Australian big-man set to enter, while both Will McDowell-White and Finn Delany are expected to depart.
The Breakers, who are coming off a 13-15 season - knocked out from postseason contention in the second play-in game - are among the most active teams as NBL Free Agency officially opens, with Bolden one of multiple signings to open the period.
Mojave King - a 6'5 wing who's coming off a season in the NBA G-League - has signed a one-year deal with the Breakers, source said; the 21-year-old re-entering the NBL after spending multiple seasons in the league as a Next Star.
Mitch McCarron will also join the Breakers, sources said, with the combo guard signing a two-year deal. McCarron, 31, spent the last three seasons with the Adelaide 36ers.
The Breakers now have Bolden, Jackson-Cartwright, King, McCarron, Sam Mennenga, Dane Pineau, and Mantas Rubstavicius (Next Star) contracted as free agency heats up.