Canterbury Rams Announce The Signing of Deshon Taylor

The Canterbury Rams are excited to announce Deshon Taylor as our first import for the Sal’s NBL 2021 Season.  The league & teams are working with Immigration & Sport New Zealand to assist in bringing imports into New Zealand for the 2021 season.  Imports are an important part of the New Zealand league as it leads to increased sponsorship & ticketing revenues. This in turn drives the community aspects of the teams, such as the in-school programs, mentoring and junior player and coach development throughout the regions.

Born in California, Taylor played the majority of his college basketball in his hometown at Fresno State University. He was named to the All Mountain-West First team multiple years (2018, 2019) and finished as the programs seventh all-time scorer with 1,482 points.

Taylor was a stat stuffer at Fresno, averaging 18 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds a game in his senior year including a season high 37 points against San Jose State. These performances leading to him being ranked in the top 10 in nine of the 13 major individual statistical categories in the Mountain West, which was the most of any player in the conference.

Taylor earned himself an NBA Summer League spot with the Philadelphia 76ers upon finishing college in 2019, before signing on with the runner up ANBL Sydney Kings later on that year, where he played with the likes of NBA champion Andrew Bogut.

Taylor follows in the footsteps of star imports who have previously played for the Rams and fans have been able to watch over the past 39 years of the NBL. Imports like Clyde Huntly, Kenny Perkins, Terrence Lewis & McKenzie Moore have been huge for the growth and value of the league, and we are hopeful we can have imports again this season.

Rams General Manager Caleb Harrison commented on the announcement of imports in the Sal’s NBL saying, “The NZ National Basketball League has been running for the past 39 years and imports have been a valued part of the league with their unique skill set resulting in more young people being inspired to play basketball throughout the country.  Having imports available has a significant impact on our organisation’s revenue, including sponsorship and ticketing. This allows our players & coaches to deliver on community outcomes such as Rams In-Schools, CRBF Mentoring & our Mainland Eagles Academy which supports coach and junior players development throughout the region. Coming off the 2020 Sal’s NBL Showdown without being able to play home games, means having imports play in the upcoming season is of fundamental importance for the financial viability of the NBL teams throughout the country.”

We’re pumped to have Rams basketball back in town for 9 home games and the best way to catch all the action at the best prices is with a season membership! Join the Herd and get your membership today.

Rams Season Memberships: https://canterburyrams.basketball/tickets/memberships/