The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at

TSB Bank Arena The TSB Bank Arena (formerly known as the Queens Wharf Events Centre) is an indoor arena in Wellington. About The arena hosts mainly basketball games and is the home arena for the Century City Saints and part-time home arena of the New Zealand ...

Team history

The Wellington Saints were founded in 1981. In 1982, the Exchequer Saints won the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title, which promoted them to the first division for the 1983 season. The Saints went on to play in six straight championship games upon joining the NBL, winning titles in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. They played in their seventh final in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, where they lost to the

Hutt Valley Lakers The Hutt Valley Lakers were a New Zealand basketball team based in Hutt Valley, Wellington. The Lakers competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). Team history The Hutt Valley Lakers started in the second-tiered Conference Basketball Lea ...

. At the end of the 1996 season, both the Saints and the Lakers were struggling to survive. They amalgamated for the 1997 season, becoming

TransAlta TransAlta Corporation (formerly Calgary Power Company, Ltd.) is an electricity power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a privately owned corporation and its shares are traded publicly. It o ...

Wellington. With fans wanting a 'real' name, for the 1998 season, they became the TransAlta Wizards. For the 1999 season, they returned to the original identity of Saints. The Saints returned to title contenders in the 2000s, as they finished runners-up in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, and won their fifth title in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. The 2010s were dominated by the Saints, as they played in every championship game between 2010 and 2019, except 2013. They claimed back-to-back championships in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, before claiming their eighth title in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. With their ninth title in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, the Saints matched the

Auckland Stars The Auckland Stars were a New Zealand basketball team based in Auckland. The Stars competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at ASB Stadium. Team history The Auckland Stars, then known as Auckland Metro, were ...

for most championships in NBL history. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, the Saints made NBL history by becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season, going 18–0. They went on to defeat the

Canterbury Rams The Canterbury Rams are a New Zealand basketball team based in Christchurch. The Rams compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Cowles Stadium. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as The Wheeler Motor Can ...

in the semi-finals before becoming the first team to complete an unbeaten season, capping off a perfect 20–0 campaign by beating the

Southland Sharks The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the SBS Bank So ...

108–75 in the final. Their tenth championship set a new record for most in NBL history. The Saints returned to the final in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, but missed the chance at their first three-peat with a 98–96 loss to the Sharks. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, the Saints completed their second undefeated regular season in three years, going 18–0, before completing another perfect 20–0 campaign by defeating the

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Taylor Hawk ...

78–68 in the final to win their 11th title. The Saints sat out the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. They returned in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

and won their 12th championship.

Current roster

CBL team

The Saints began in the second-tiered

Conference Basketball League The Conference Basketball League (CBL) was a second-tiered men's semi-professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with th ...

(CBL), winning the CBL title in 1982. In 1997, Wellington's second division team finished as runners-up in the CBL, and in 2001, the Wellington College Saints finished as CBL runners-up. In 2008, the Saints' second division team won the CBL championship with a 90–84 win over the

Waikato Titans The Waikato Pistons were a New Zealand basketball team based in Hamilton. The Pistons competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at Hamilton Boys' High School. After sitting out the 2012 NBL season, the Pist ...

in the final.

References

External links

Official team website
*
Wellington Saints chairman Justin Toebes to miss last NBL finals

Wellington Saints captain Damien Ekenasio looking for perfect end to 15-year NBL career

Wellington Saints CEO Nick Mills contemplating going out on a high after 10th title

Is the ABL Expanding Further East to the Pacific?

Wellington Saints eye move to ASEAN Basketball League
{{Sport in Wellington Basketball teams in New Zealand National Basketball League (New Zealand) teams Sport in Wellington City Basketball teams established in 1981 1981 establishments in New Zealand