Sport Basketball | Number of teams 10 | |
Top scorer Ronnie Joyner (Ponsonby) | ||
The 1986 New Zealand National Basketball League season was the fifth running of the competition. Two changes occurred for the 1986 season, with the Napier Sunhawks renaming themselves the Hawke's Bay Hawks, while Centrals were dropped from the league and replaced by 1985 Conference Basketball League champions North Shore. The Canterbury Rams won the championship in 1986 to claim their first league title. In the grand final, arch rivals the Rams and the Wellington Saints faced off in a match that went down to the wire. John "Dutchie" Rademakers top scored for the Rams with 22 points, with American point guard Clyde Huntley adding 20 and fellow import, Angelo Hill, 15. Youngster Ian Webb also contributed 13 points, as the Rams defeated the Saints 87–82.