In March 2011, the franchise was unveiled by Basketball Auckland ahead of the
2011 NBL season, marking the return of an Auckland presence to the NBL, a year after the
Auckland Stars folded. The inaugural squad included imports Raheim Brown and Kevin Mickens alongside
Dillon Boucher,
Luke Martin and Brook Ruscoe. The Pirates finished their first season in seventh place with a 5–11 record. For the
2012 season, the Pirates retained Boucher and Ruscoe, and acquired
Lindsay Tait,
Alex Pledger,
Hayden Allen,
Duane Bailey and
Ron Dorsey. They subsequently helped the Pirates finish the regular season in second place with a 13–3 record. After defeating the
Manawatu Jets in the semi-finals, they faced the
Wellington Saints in the final, where they won 89–83 to claim the
NBL championship. Pledger was named Finals MVP, while Tait was named
Most Outstanding Guard,
Most Outstanding Kiwi Guard and
All-Star Five for the 2012 season. On 2 November 2012, the Pirates withdrew from the NBL, with Basketball Auckland revealing their financial model was unsustainable. ==References==