TASMANIA could be on the verge of returning to the National Basketball League for the first time since the Hobart Devils folded back in 1996.

At the NBL Blitz pre-season tournament in Brisbane at the weekend, chief executive Fraser Neill announced that a Brisbane team would join the league for the 2015-16 season.

The Mercury believes an announcement about a Tasmanian entry could come as soon as next month.

Speculation is rife that the green light could be given for a local team but insiders and officials are remaining tight-lipped before a decision is made.

The Tassie push is being led by US-born former NBA player Randy Livingston, who has been working on preparing a business case for the new team and flew to Brisbane at the weekend to meet league powerbrokers.

Neil has previously announced plans to expand the competition from eight teams to 12 for the 2015-16 season, and spent two days here in January meeting state and local government representatives.

He left impressed with Tasmania’s potential to again host its own team, which would represent the whole state, playing home games in Hobart, Launceston and on the North-West Coast.

Several local councils including Glenorchy – home of the Derwent Entertainment Centre – are believed to be on board.

NBL legend Anthony Stewart, who resigned from his role with Basketball Tasmania last week to spend more time on the NBL bid, said a new team had the potential to unite the state.

“Tasmania doesn’t have a truly statewide national program,” he said.

“We’d want to embed this across the whole state and give all communities a sense of ownership, and make sure we’re here 12 months a year.

“We’ll have 12 or 15 guys who are working in local communities 12 months a year supporting our young people. The investment we could make back into the state would be huge.

“We want to make a game available two hours from anywhere in the state, so if we play in Ulverstone or Devonport, young people from the West Coast can feel a bit of ownership of that.

“That’s a major plus that we have, that no other sport can actually deliver at this stage.

“It’s really important that we get right behind Randy, and hopefully in the next few weeks we may see a launch. All I can say is ‘stay tuned’. These are exciting times for the state.”

The Devils played in the NBL from 1983 to 1996 before having their licence revoked, and fans have longed for a return to the country’s top-flight competition.

A new side could potentially lure Tasmanian-born established NBL stars like Adam Gibson, who represented Australia in the recent World Cup, Lucas Walker and Matt Knight back home, and would provide a pathway for talented young local players.