The NBL believes the shock exit of the Southern Huskies, disappearing entirely from Tasmania's tricky basketball horizon, has cleared the air.
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The club that was less than 12 months old announced early in August intentions to already withdrawal from the New Zealand NBL in its first year of a five-year deal.
The move was blamed in some quarters due to the Australian NBL snubbing the Huskies entry a second time.
The NBL initially knocked back the Tasmanian bid for the coming 2019-20 season in favour of new side South East Melbourne Phoenix.
But League chief executive Larry Kestelman suggested to the Huskies to join the New Zealand winter competition to enhance its chances come the 10th NBL licence.
It has since been revealed the Huskies owed debts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars after low crowds and the fact the club was forced to pay for the travel of rival visiting clubs to Tasmania.
Kestelman went cold on the club after briefings from Basketball Tasmania.
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The failure of the Huskies to gain a firm stranglehold in its first year has not deterred Kestelman's plans.
So far the multi-millionaire owner has already attempted to buy Hobart's Derwent Entertainment Centre, a move that Glenorchy City Council blocked Huskies boss Justin Hickey from doing first.
"The NBL's intention to establish a team in Tasmania has not changed with recent news involving the Southern Huskies," Kestelman said.
"If we do decide to issue a license to Tasmania, we will then start the process of assessing who and how the club should be owned and operated. The NBL will be committed to ensuring the right ownership model is found and the league will not be the long term owner.
"If that process takes three months or three years, the NBL stands committed to a professional and world-class operation being in place for all Tasmanians."
Kestelman has told The Examiner previously the NBL is prepared to take temporary ownership of its own Tasmanian team in the meantime.
The NBL Blitz preseason comes to Tasmania that includes a double-header on September 21 in Launceston.
The Huskies had declined to comment further on the issue after announcing their decision to the media.
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