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After two seasons with the Australian National Basketball League, the Singapore Slingers has announced their withdrawal from the league and are aiming to join the ASIAN PRO LEAGUE.

Wrote The Singapore Slingers Press Release,

When the Singapore Slingers tip-off for the new basketball season on Sept 17 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, instead of going up against the likes of NBL sides Melbourne Tigers or Perth Wildcats, skipper Ben Knight and Co could be taking on the likes of professional teams from Korea, Philippines, Japan or China instead.

This was after the Slingers management announced that the Singapore-based team has
officially pulled out of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), and will not be taking part in the upcoming 2008/09 NBL season.

“We had every intention to play our third season in the NBL and had recruited a team to be very competitive and more relevant to Singapore, with three players of Asian heritage on the roster”, said Slingers Managing Director Bob Turner.

“In spite of the team’s financial readiness to participate, the recent withdrawal of two key teams from the NBL has had a negative impact on our business model and led to an unanticipated increase in travel costs. When the NBL could not accede to our request to help defray the exorbitant and rising travel costs, the board of the Slingers took the painful but necessary decision to leave the NBL and pursue the possibility of playing in a professional league in Asia instead”.