After 10 years and 277 games with the Melbourne Tigers, Daryl Corletto is set to leave the only NBL club he has ever played for and join forces with the New Zealand Breakers in 2011-12. It is believed he has signed a one-year contract with the reigning NBL premiers.

Corletto was taken off the Tigers' active playing roster 12 days ago to make room for the signing of Australian NBA player Patty Mills, and it is understood that snub is behind Corletto's decision to take his talents elsewhere. 

Corletto also fielded inquires from the Cairns Taipans and the Gold Coast Blaze in the last week, after the Tigers made their deal with Mills and subsequently had to alter their roster which left Corletto on the outer. 

Mills has an opt-out clause in his contract, that will allow him to leave the Tigers and potentially re-sign with the Portland Trailblazers, that he will presumably exercise when the NBA lockout ends. 

The Tigers had planned on keeping Corletto, having the veteran remain part of training sessions and workouts, and then reactivating him when Mills eventually departs. That now won't happen. 

The Breakers acted swiftly after they became aware of Corletto's availability, and after Corey Webster was removed from the New Zealand national squad last Wednesday, following a breach of his contract. 

The Breakers released a statement Friday morning, acknowledging that Webster had tested positive to "a synthetic form of cannabis". Webster had previously tested positive to cannabis in 2010 and was suspended by the New Zealand Sports Tribunal, but was not suspended by the NBL. 

The opportunity to add Mills to the roster was undeniably too entertaining for the Tigers to resist, although it is now set to have the unfortunate side-effect of ending the tenure of the Tigers sixth-longest serving player and a true fan favourite. 

The addition of Mills, described by Tigers CEO Seamus McPeake as "a great coup", will mean Corletto does not get to achieve the 300-game milestone with the Tigers. Corletto is behind only Andrew Gaze (612), Lanard Copeland (448), Warrick Giddey (406), Mark Bradtke (375) and Ray Gordon (370) in games played for the Tigers.

Last season Corletto averaged a very healthy 10.1ppg, and was promoted to the starting line-up for the final 10 games of the season, following the axing of head coach Al Westover and import Eric Devendorf, when Darryl McDonald took over as interim-head coach down the stretch.

Corletto averaged 13.1ppg as a starter through the 2010/11 season, and scored in double figures in 14 of the Tigers' 28 games.

After winning the 2011 NBL championship, the New Zealand Breakers were hoping that Webster would be able to share the shooting-guard responsibilities with CJ Bruton, after Kirk Penney opted to make a move overseas and signed with Fuenlabrada (in the Spanish ACB), but now Breakers head coach Andre Lemanis will run with either Corletto or Bruton as the team's starter. 

Corletto averaged 8.1ppg over his career with the Tigers, which began in 2001, and won two NBL championships in 2006 and 2008. 

The Breakers open their 2011/12 schedule with a road-double against the Gold Coast Blaze on 7 October and the Wollongong Hawks two days later.