Likened to T20 cricket and Rugby 7s, the abbreviated basketball format is riding a wave of interest after featuring at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year.

It's proved something of a second coming for Walker, now a Corrimal resident, after a decade-long career in the NBL with Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns and Sydney.

More recently, the 36-year-old was part of Australia's 2019 Asia Cup-winning team alongside fellow NBL vets Greg Hire and Tim Coenraad and tournament MVP Tom Wright.

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the sport from capitalising on the momentum but, with it set to feature at next year's Commonwealth Games, Walker is looking forward to bringing it to Wollongong.

"I've got my sights on Comm Games next year three-on-three and I'm really looking forward to getting this club up and running down here and trying to expose the game to more people," Walker said.

"It's really early in the process but we want to get it on people's radar and then hopefully in January next year we'll really get going.

"We'll be running junior and senior competitions most nights of the week, hopefully we get good numbers, and we'll run bigger events on the weekends and invite other teams to town.

"I'm looking for a home base for it as well so we've got court access all the time to be able to run those competitions training and that sort of stuff. We've got plenty of work to do but it's exciting."

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At the elite level, the Heat will join the CLB's seven foundation clubs when the national competition resumes in 2022, with teams in Victoria, regional Queensland, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney.

Having thrown himself into the format as his NBL career wound down, Walker says there's something in it for all players and fans.

"Rugby Sevens is a good comparison, it's a condensed faster version of the game," Walker said.

"What I liked about it was it reminded me of how basketball was when I was younger. You turn up to the stadium five minutes before you game with your hoodie on and your drink bottle and you go out there and play.

"It's pretty skill-based, you play a lot of one-on-one, but it also involves a lot of basketball basics, how to screen and roll, screen and dive, really fundamental things to get cheap points.

"There's no coaches, there's no subs and there's really no time to think. It's just get out and play hard."