Basketball is in danger of slipping from the Australian sporting landscape forever after the NBL took another potentially fatal hit yesterday.The Melbourne Tigers have joined the South Dragons in withdrawing from the new national competition, making it virtually impossible for the season to go ahead in October with seven teams.Basketball Australia (BA) will reveal which direction it will now take at a press conference today in Sydney."Following a meeting of their shareholders, (the Tigers confirmed) they had decided not to play in season 2009-10," BA chief executive Larry Sengstock said."This decision is not overly surprising ... (it) is nonetheless extremely disappointing that the Tigers and South Dragons have chosen to sit out of the competition for a season when both teams have long been strident opponents to the concept of the league taking any sort of extended hiatus before launching the new competition."This sudden reversal of stance on their part however does not change our position in terms of the immediate steps we need to take."The other clubs (had) until 5pm (yesterday) to submit their signed license agreements for the 2009-10 season."Once the board has assessed the responses, we will outline the future of the league at our scheduled media conference at midday, including providing full details of the entire Expression of Interest process."It is believed the competition will be re-launched in 2010, with the season running from July to December.Such a scenario would put basketball at risk of dropping off the map and permanently alienating Australian sports followers.But Tigers assistant coach Warrick Giddey believes an extended lay-off could be the perfect tonic for an ailing sport."It gives everyone time to get their house in order and save their money," Giddey said."The public will be basketball-starved and the league will come back bigger and better in the way soccer did with the A-League."The Tigers' withdrawal has left any revamped competition without teams in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane."We don't see it being sustainable," Tigers co-owner Seamus McPeake said."We believe it's in the best interest of the sport to sit out for this year and get this set up properly, get the reform completed, get the proper governance in place and the commerciality of the sport."The time out of the sport to get it right, get the right people involved ... will deliver us what we need."