Brian Goorjian's squad will base themselves in the 'green-zoned' border town for the next nine days, finalising its preparations for the season proper 600 kilometres away from the Sydney COVID cluster that's seen all states and territories slap restrictions on their borders with NSW.

The shift will let both the Hawks and Kings, who've also made the trip south, cross into Victoria should restrictions prevent them returning home prior to the start of the NBL season set to tip-off on January 10.

The best case scenario would see restrictions eased to allow the opening five home and away rounds to play out as scheduled. Should that not be the case, the Hawks and Kings could be looking at an extended stretch in purgatory, with the NBL Cup set to bring all nine teams into a Melbourne hub for a month from February 20.

Hawks guard Emmett Naar said the playing group is preparing itself for what could be a tough road stretch.

"We've been told 'expect to be away three months' so we're under no illusions," Naar said.

"We've been told to sort of expect the worst and hope for the best, but we're all planning to be away for three months. We probably should've realised when the [preseason] Perth game got cancelled and put back on three times, but the magnitude of it didn't really hit until after the [December 20} Kings game when the owners spoke to us.

"We almost had to leave that day, so I think from then on everyone understood not to get too settled and really just play a day ahead. You've just got to take it a day at a time because anything can change in an instant.

"It's the way of the world this year, you can't make plans too far in advance. We don't know where we're going to be at certain points of time, but we've got the first game against South East [on January 14] and we'll just get ready for that."

While there'd been a few hints a move was imminent, Naar says the order came earlier than expected.

"We'd sort of been told we could be moving between the 28th and 30th and then on Christmas Eve we found out it would be Boxing Day," Naar said.

"The 24th and 25th was just everyone packing, guys getting out of leases and things like that, so it was a bit frantic. It didn't really feel like Christmas, but it's good to know where we're at for at least a few days now.

"There's a few hurdles to get through in terms of setting up a more normal life, but we know we're in Albury until the fifth [of January]."

Goorjian couldn't speak highly enough of his team's attitude to the shift on arriving in Albury on Saturday, and Naar says the squad is looking to make the less than ideal circumstances work for it.

"We're trying to make it as normal as possible. If anything it could be good because it's more time to be together as a team," Naar said.

"Luckily they're all good guys on the team otherwise you might get sick of each other pretty quick. We've adapted to it pretty well, I guess there's nothing else you can do.

"Everyone would obviously prefer to be sleeping in their own beds but it is like a little training camp and hopefully it brings us closer together."