With the scheduled tip-off in NBL22 rapidly approaching, the league concedes the November 18 launch is in some jeopardy. Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger joined ESPN's Ball and the Real World podcast, revealing the fans are the priority in what will be the third season impacted by the pandemic.
"We're still scheduled officially to start on November 18. Given that we've always said our priority is our fans and allowing them to attend as many games in their home city as possible, it would be derelict of us not to continue to monitor and consider current circumstances of whether or not push that date back a little further," said Loeliger.
"Officially it's still November 18 but there is certainly some murmur on the streets because of that fact that a lot of other codes are pushing back and we're continuing the monitor the numbers on a day-by-day basis."
"I don't think it's too distant in the future before we see a schedule put out there. You would like to think in the next two or three weeks there would be a schedule out and about. Everyone is conscious of the fact that you publish that schedule and then wait for it to change."
Complicating matters further are state-by-state restrictions on travel, combined with the varying vaccination rates across the country. Loeliger reveals the league does not plan to introduce a vaccine mandate.
"We're not a policy maker and this is a public policy issue, that's probably the first point. It's not our intent to mandate vaccinations because the rules are the rules. If we were to try and pre-empt that now, in all likelihood the rule would change between now and when the season began."
In recent weeks the Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand Breakers announced 'mutual agreements' to cut ties with Travis Trice and Tai Webster respectively due to their decision not to be vaccinated.
"If we mandated that the players had to be vaccinated, you would probably see Tai and Travis come to a mutual release with their club anyway. What we're trying to do is make sure that everyone has as much information as possible and is educated as much as possible. Both about the consequences of taking or not taking the vaccination from a health perspective but also the implications potentially on their career or their season once the powers that be beyond our control step in and say, 'you can't cross into our state unless you've been vaccinated, or you can't come into our venue, or you can't come onto our aircraft'.
"Clubs and players have to make those decisions between themselves. You've seen a couple of mutual releases and I think they were exactly that, they were mutual releases because coaches and clubs want certainty and players want to hoop so it doesn't really suit anyone's cause if players are going to be sitting at home unable to travel to various destinations and coaches are going to be without their star players. It's an unfortunate circumstance but such is the nature of the pandemic."
On the positive front, the league continues to work its way into the Asian market, with China's Zhou Qi and the Philippines' Kai Sotto just two of the big name signings set to hit the floor in Australia this season.
"Those are the second and third biggest basketball economies in the world, they're really significant signings for us. In terms of measuring, largely you look to earned media and how much coverage you're getting in those markets. We're still in the throes of negotiating a broadcast arrangement for live games into those markets.
"Obviously, you've got the metrics around social media which give you instantaneous feedback. The popular social media platforms in China are still relatively new to us so we're still finding our feet there. We've got some learning to do if we're going to make the most of the opportunities."
Qi and Sotto have eyes on the NBA, with Loeliger believing it's another statement for a league that has quickly risen to become one of the legitimate pathways for players to reach the NBA.
"I think we've demonstrated now it's a genuine pathway both for Next Stars as well as those guys who perhaps went undrafted and then shot off to stardom in the NBA, Torrey Craig is a really good example of that but not the first. There's now a history of guys like Scottie Wilbekin, James Ennis Jr., Torrey that I mentioned. Terrance Ferguson was the one that really got the ball rolling with the Next Stars program but just in this last year you saw guys like Jae'Sean Tate and Cam Oliver transition to the NBA and have meaningful and immediate impact. That transition from NBL to NBA is going to become more consistent, I believe."
"I have no qualms about our best players going to the NBA. That's a fantastic story for us and it demonstrates that we're the next best thing. That's ok from my point of view. I'm not insecure about the fact a league that's been around a lot longer than us, that has a salary cap that is 100 percent bigger than what ours is, that they are a bit better than us, that's ok."
In other league news, Loeliger deemed the inaugural NBL Cup in season tournament a "huge success", though he did flag potential tweaks in the future.
"I think in retrospect, while it was a great success, and the Victorian government were an amazing partner in terms of being able to host 36 games in 30 days in a single venue, it was a huge effort but as the same time too much basketball in the one place in a short amount of time.
"The concept is great, but I would want to revisit it in future years in terms of how we maximise the opportunity and potentially spread it over multiple markets, potentially shorter in time, maybe break it up over a couple different periods during the year.
"It's probably going to be a challenge to do it again this coming season given all the parameters around travel and congregating are still so unknown but it's very much on the table for something we're continuing to see how we can make it a long-term future asset."
You can catch the full conversation with Loeliger on the Ball and the Real World podcast.