Season 2021 will be the 40th year of the Sal's NBL and a panel of six have been tasked with arguably one of the toughest assignments the League has ever seen.
To help celebrate the four-decade long milestone, the top 40 players from 40 years of the competition will be named during the season, which tips-off on April 24.
The panel is packed with supreme knowledge of the League, some spanning all the way back to tip-off in 1982.
Chaired by Huw Beynon, the panel includes Keith Mair, Steve 'Coach' McKean, Nick Mills, Steve Fitchett and Marc Hinton.
Coming together to meet in Wellington on February 24, the six-man panel will start with a preliminary list of 85 players. It's a long list of names to work through with the panel expecting to sit for a full day in an effort to arrive at a top 40.
Once the panel arrives at the top 40, they then have the additional task of putting them in order, from player 40 down to player 1, the best the League has seen.
One of the key criteria for selection is the impact a player has made on New Zealand's NBL, not necessarily what they have done elsewhere around the world.
"This is about the best forty players based on what they have done in this League," outlined League General Manager Justin Nelson, adding "The panel was very strong on that when we sat down and set the criteria.
"There have been many great players who have played in this competition across the four decades. The panel is focused on the best forty players based on what they have delivered here, in this League."
The top 40in40 is expected to be announced through May and June.
