Opting out of the National Basketball League might help the Otago Nuggets regroup.
But getting back into the league is a long, hard road, former Taranaki Basketball Club chairman Warren Osborne has warned.
The Nuggets have until the end of the month to commit to the 2009 NBL season. The board met on Tuesday night to consider its options and plans to meet again on November 20.
Until then, the Nuggets' future remained in limbo, Basketball Otago (BBO) chairman John Gallaher said.
"We are just looking at every option available to us as far as putting the team on the track next year," he said.
"Everyone is keen to find a solution, but the reality is it is not getting any easier. We've got to try to get something together that makes sense and something that the board is happy to sign off on."
One possible option, he said, was to take a year out of the NBL, to regroup.
When Basketball New Zealand took control of the league in 2004 it added a provision which allowed teams to stand down for one season if they fell upon hard times.
However, with the franchises taking back control of the league, it was unclear whether that was still an option.
Gallaher said BBO would seek clarification with the newly formed NBL board but was also committed to keeping the Nuggets on the court.
"Our wish, if everything can be lined up in the correct way, is that we will continue to have a franchise."
Osborne was a key figure in helping Taranaki get back into the league.
The Taranaki team folded after the 1999 season and it took some very determined people three years to get the province back in the league, he said.
"Was it difficult? Yes, it was difficult," Osborne said.
"We put in jolly long hours, talked to a lot of people and took on a lot of pressure, particularly financial pressure, on our own shoulders to get us established and back in the league."
The Taranaki Basketball Club set itself three targets: the franchise had to be financially viable, the team had to be competitive and the community had to be behind the team.
Hawkes Bay is another example of a team taking time out of the league and making a successful return.
The Hawks missed the 1999 season then endured three lean years before finishing in the middle of the pack in 2003. From that point on the Hawks have been one of the sides to beat and won the league for the first time in 2006.
There was no such luck for Northland, which entered the league in 1995 and lasted just four seasons. The province has been without an NBL team for a decade.
