The Tall Blacks' road to next year's Basketball World Cup in Spain has been made easier after being included in High Performance Sport New Zealand's funding plan for next year.
Basketball missed out completely this year as High Performance Sport New Zealand felt they weren't tracking towards the 2020 Olympics, but their qualification for August's World Cup has them back on the list.
The Basketball New Zealand Chief Executive, Iain Potter, says while the 200-thousand dollar investment is less than half of what's needed for the tournament, it makes things a lot easier.
Iain Potter says the funding makes the prospect of getting the NBA player, Steven Adams, to turn out for the Tall Blacks more realistic.
