Why not just get rid of import restrictions completely? If thats what is stopping the teams putting together the best rosters?

And hey, some really good NBA players might want to stay closer to NBA teams so they can get more exposure so why don't we play all of the NBL's games there? And maybe each team can be aligned with an NBA franchise to make it even better!

No. Marquees are "unrestricted" in relation the the cap. Imports aren't. Not being able to sign a "million dollar" marquee for example and signing another import for a couple hundred grand isn't going to make the league any better. Put that money and opportunity the the locals.

I've been thinking more along the lines of certain teams being eligible to sign a fourth import under certain conditions.

Maybe teams who don’t have the financial capacity to attract marquee locals. And the supposed tax money is used to pay for it.

I don’t kkow how it would work but was thinking mainly of how to help Cairns but that was befor the supposed impending ownership transfer.

Five years service at one club should allow imports to be marquees, possibly even four. I think three imports are fine as most third imports are budget and often not as good as some locals.

The NBL's increased visibility globally I think has opened more opportunities for our locals overseas than was the case maybe a decade ago. So you see the Olympic teams made up of NBA or Euro/Asia players.

As it stands now we either have lots of local guards of good calibre here as naturally there are more guards in the market across the globe, but in terms of big men its either DPs or rookies or perhaps someone at the end of their career.

I like the idea of a Marquee veteran import , maybe 1 per club at any time

I reckon we need to be able to marquee an import now.

Would also consider a fourth import as well... with SRPs/Next Stars we are basically there anyway.

If I want to watch players from any country play basketball, why would I watch the NBL?

My interest waned a lot when they went back to 3 imports. Especially with naturalized players as well, you'd regularly see foreign-born players getting over half the minutes for a team and the Aussies relegated to role-players.

Might be different for those who have the time & money to watch most games live, but as someone who can usually only watch the game on a screen I don't find the NBL offering particularly compelling most years.

I think its all well and good to say get rid of the import limit or increase the limit. The larger issue is profitability.

Sydney, Melbourne they can probably afford 4 imports. Cairns, Tassie, Illawara probably cannot. This will create a league of haves and havenots.

The league already seems mostly lopsided as it is with spending. Removal of the rule or increase to the limit may just put enough of a strain that these "financially tighter" clubs could just not even attempt to compete.

Look at the 6ers right now, Cotton, Harrel, Cheatham... If they could get (this was rumoured) Demarcus Cousins or someone of that ilk.

Sure Melbourne or Sydney could bolster their team up to compete, but Illawara ,who just won the title, who are losing a couple players might not be able to run it back to compete again.

This also might have an impact on the Aussie youth getting playing time. We have seen such an aussie surge in the past couple years heading NBA level or Euroleague Level that are getting their stripes in the NBL. By making the comp more "top" heavy this would limit our young guys chances to get exposure at this level.

Olbirch, Rocco, Toohey, Henshall all guys getting NBL mins and now looking at a chance to making the big NBA jump this year. The NBL has actually made itself a pathway for our young guys to actually progress in basketball, rather than be a stop gap league. In a 10 league comp to have 4 guys considered for drafting is pretty incredible.

Which league doesnt have lopsided rosters ? Any league that does not have a draft system has super teams that generally are the biggest spenders. They tend to be the big drawcards. Its the same in Soccer as well. Even in the NBA you got the lakers often with super stars year on year.

Big city teams will generally have better teams in the NBL and thats where most of the fan base is as well.

The smaller teams can get maybe college grads who were not in the draft stakes for cheap. There is always someone looking for a job.

It's not only the nbl that’s losing players to nba and college teams, Spain, France, Germany just off the top of my head have their governing bodies trying to look into it. I believe Madrid have said they are thinking of closing their development path ways as it’s pointless when all their top talent goes to the US. Some of these colleges are paying 500k a year for players under 21.

If anything its about to get worse in that regard. Universities/colleges have recently been approved to directly pay athletes. Any illusions of being amateurs is over. The cap is US$25 Million across all sports per college. Whilst a lot of that will go to football, the next biggest spender will be mens college basketball.