A region unworthy of keeping its name could become the saviour of the NBL season.
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Covid-19 has offered some extraordinary situations in 2020, but in a sporting sense, this would be up there with the best of them.
If you feel like you're missing something here, let's recap.
The NBL dictated to the new Hawks owners they drop the Illawarra name, after years of turmoil at the embattled club.
It's why Wollongong businessman and Wolves' National Premier League football owner Tory Lavalle, in a bid with the potential NBA No.1 draft pick LaMelo Ball, were denied.
The Hawks will play and train in Wollongong anyway if the season goes ahead, but that's only because the NBL were unable to take games to Canberra, following the AIS Arena closure which came after the foolish decision to drop the name.
And then, as the NBL form a steering committee to consider the best path to ensure the season - whether it starts in December or February - goes ahead, the NSW Government launched a major push to host an AFL or NBA style hub in Sydney and Wollongong.
It has support from the state opposition, notably Wollongong MP Paul Scully, who also wants to make it happen. Up until this point, the NBL have been largely dismissive of the chances of launching a hub in NSW, amid the backlash in the Illawarra business community about dropping the name.
So you can expect the NBL to want to take a hub to Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Wagga, New Zealand, Kazakhstan or one of Donald Trump's presidential rally venues before they would bring it to Wollongong.
It's a situation as remarkable as it is ridiculous.
And so let's say the political push leads to Sydney and Wollongong being the standout option for a hub, in a similar way the Queensland Government's terms rescued the AFL season.
Let's say it's almost irresistible as Victoria continue to deal with the Covid situation and the second wave becomes a third, or even fourth.
What do the NBL do then?
In simple terms, they'd realise their error, put the Illawarra name back in the Hawks as gratitude for Wollongong taking the hub commitment on and we can all move, in the knowledge the foundation club has a future.
There may be too many fragile egos at NBL headquarters to admit it.
And no doubt they will find an alternative, unless the NSW Government could simply make an offer too good to refuse. There is something uncomfortable about the NBL celebration of launching Tasmania's new name, while the grand old team continues without one.
Tasmanians deserve their place at the table, having for so long craved elite sport, whether it be basketball or AFL.
A quick search of the Google machine says Tasmania's population is about 520,000.
The Illawarra and Shoalhaven population, both basketball strongholds, amounts to about 410,000, so when you add in the casual interest from the southern highlands and Sydney, is reasonably comparable. And yet because of the ongoing management failures at the Hawks, the club remains on notice. Under threat.
Make it work, or lose it, as chairman and NBL owner Larry Kestelman outlined when the Illawarra name was dumped.
The prospect of a NSW hub should come with some non-negotiable incentives.
Making it work should mean redeveloping WIN Entertainment Centre is be a priority.
The time has come for Wollongong's civil leaders to ensure elite sport - whether it be NBL, NRL, or A-League amibitions - has a promising future. It's not enough to just be happy to have the Hawks staying alive in any form, with the overpriced beer and chips and completely unreasonable tenancy agreement.
And all while metropolitan powerbrokers are climbing over each other for NRL ground funding at the expense of major regional facilities.
For the love of Glen Saville, we had a Hawks game called off because of a leaking roof. Covid-19 has provided many challenges, but it's also offered perspective to develop a roadmap for the future.