The son of All Blacks legend Ma’a Nonu flashed his immense basketball promise in the Rapid League curtain-raiser, but will have to bide his time before he can call himself a fully-fledged Wellington Saints NBL player.
Mercury Nonu, the 17-year-old Wellington schoolboy, and oldest son of the two-time World Cup-winning All Black, made his first NBL appearance for the Saints in their Thursday night visit to the table-topping Southland Sharks in Invercargill.
The youngster started what he had called a “dream” night almost perfectly when he poured in a team-high 10 points for the Saints in their 49-30 Rapid League victory over the Sharks.
The Rapid League is an NBL initiative that pits essentially the back half of the full rosters from each club in a shortened, development-type matchup that precedes the main affair. It has been credited with fast-tracking the careers of a number of New Zealand’s leading young players.
But Nonu, who has been training with the Saints all year, and had his first full roster callup for this trip, was not required to take the court in the full NBL matchup, won 104-90 by the Sharks to improve their competition-best record to 8-2. The Saints drop back to 5-3 after trailing the southerners throughout.
