The NBL care more about having exposure and reputation in the US than having a team in Wollongong.
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It's an important perspective when it comes to the Illawarra Hawks.
In Melbourne, there are opinions in the NBL world holding greater weight than this columnist's (pretty much everyone), who believe the Hawks add little benefit to the league.
The know-it-alls and wise men play fantasy basketball and think about a utopia, with disregard to the history and importance of the foundation club.
Like the Springfield Isotopes moving to Albuquerque in The Simpsons, taking more, perhaps all games to Canberra is an attractive option. Another shot at a second team in Sydney instead would be fun, they say publicly or fantasise privately, aside from the small matter of the Kings having exclusivity in the market as part of their deal.
We should just be grateful to the NBL LaMelo played for the Hawks at all is a common theme, because he was a Next Stars signing.
Chairman Larry Kestelman is on record as saying the Hawks need to broaden their base and be the great regional ambassadors for the game, as if becoming a magic bullet to the NBL's own financial limitations.
It wasn't so long ago the Hawks were vulnerable to an AFL club pinching the licence and taking it to Victoria. However, you also have to wonder why an AFL club never actually took on an NBL licence after all.
The Hawks have stared into the abyss so many times in their history, that entrusting the Ball family and the NBA playing, social media reality show producing sideshow which comes with it, seems like a safe enough option.
But then remember, Ball left Wollongong - prematurely after carrying a foot injury - without saying goodbye to his teammates in January.
What it does do is present the unusual circumstances where Ball can potentially provide the safety net for the NBL's presence in the NBA and secure the Hawks future in Wollongong at the same time.
Here we are, expecting a 12-game Hawks player and teenage potential No.1 NBA draft pick to be the front man for the new Hawks ownership, as Simon Stratford's last stand ends and the NBL take control.
The NBL would take both, rather than neither.
But now the poor suffering Hawks fans suffer the indignity of another pitiful round of voluntary administration which could have been avoided by the NBL's handling of Stratford's exit.
NBL officials were filthy the Mercury broke the story of Ball taking ownership, instead offering quotes to other media to control the narrative, because they were yet to finalise the details.
Ball's ownership could turn the Hawks into a powerhouse, but it's the involvement of Tory Lavalle, the Wollongong businessman with a track record of success and sponsorship in Illawarra sport, who now holds the key to the Hawks staying put.
If he has the chance.
