Penney to retire from basketball

After the tears had dried up and Kirk Penney had moved on from the more emotional aspects of his retirement press conference, we got a glimpse of the burning resolve that has made him one of New Zealand’s finest basketballers of all time.

All sides of this global hoops superstar were on show as he officially announced at Breakers headquarters on Thursday he would be hanging up his Nike hightops at the end of this Australian NBL season (a year ahead of schedule ). There was the raw unfiltered emotion as he choked up talking about the death of his father Paul last October; the pure pride and joy around the privileged position of finishing his career ‘‘full circle’’ at the club that had always meant most to him; and then finally the steely determination that he can turn the upcoming playoffs into a ‘‘fairytale finish’’.

At 37, and on the back of a season dogged by back and calf injuries, not to mention the death of his father that cut him to the core, the decision comes as no surprise. But it will be no less impactful around the closeknit Kiwi hoops scene.

Penney has been playing highlevel basketball since he was a teenage phenomenon for North Harbour in the New Zealand NBL, logging a storied NCAA career at Wisconsin (1999-2003), making two all-too-brief appearances in the NBA, and playing professionally in Spain, Israel, Lithuania, Germany, Turkey, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the US.

He also represented the Tall Blacks for 17 years and was a major part of some of the finest moments in this country’s history, including the magical fourth-place finish at the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis. He is, without a doubt, in the starting five of this country’s hoops finest, probably alongside Stan Hill, Pero Cameron, Phill Jones and Steven Adams.

And now, whenever the Breakers’ upcoming playoff run concludes, it will end a 19-year career of college and professional hoops. If Penney has his way it will be with a net around his neck.

‘‘I love the thought of that fairytale finish and will be addressing the guys about it,’’ he said, confirming he would be ‘‘100 percent’’ fit after sitting out the last part of the regular season. ‘‘If we don’t win I know it doesn’t define anything, but boy I’d love to win.’’

ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GETTY IMAGES Kirk Penney says the ‘time is right’ for him to hang up his boots and bow out of the game.