The NBL's expansion campaign in affiliation with the AFL has reached a new milestone, with Hawthorn expecting to be the new owners of an Australian basketball team, according to SEN journalist Sam Edmund.
The Hawks have been the latest team to make huge strides in growing Australia's domestic basketball league under the AFL-NBL partnership framework, reportedly committed to housing an NBL team.
Edmund told SEN Breakfast that Hawthorn are leading the rest of the field in their pursuit of owning their own basketball team and it's getting closer to happening, but is "still a few years away."
“We are told the Hawks are now committed to creating and housing an NBL team at its new Dingley base, which is still a few years away,” Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.
“The NBL is keen on expansion, but it seems highly unlikely to happen next season given it starts in October and all the free agency windows and trading that has to go into that, and broadcast rights."
Edmund also noted that the Hawks are "committed to having an NBL team known as the Hawthorn Hawks in the NBL competition.”
The NBL-AFL expansion project is now well and truly in full swing with the announcement of former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou joining the NBL as Co-Chair of the league's Advisory Board.
There are also currently conversations between Essendon and an NBL team that are described as “ongoing," while Fremantle have remained interested, according to Edmund.
