The Huskies are an ambitious franchise, being launched this year in an attempt to earn a licence in the Australian NBL for the 2019-2020 season. That opportunity instead went to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but the Huskies are still hopeful they could earn a licence in the near future.
In the meantime, they're hoping to get the club off the ground in the NZ NBL, which would provide them with stronger competition than the various Australian state leagues.
Potter believes their inclusion would be a validation of the strength of the New Zealand competition.
"It sends a message that it's a really good, competitive basketball league. It brings many benefits.
"We see it as adding a bit of spice – it's a new concept, a little bit of trans-Tasman rivalry never goes amiss, and it also offers an unknown challenge – how will we match up to a relatively strong Australian club?"
However, their impending inclusion also presents some obvious challenges, with flights to Tasmania likely to be problematic for less financially well-off franchises such as the Taranaki Mountain Airs and Manawatu Jets, while the Huskies would have to cram double or triple-headers into their New Zealand road trips.
The Huskies would also not have the same mandate to develop New Zealand players, with their expected team of Australians and imports likely to serve more as high-level competition for New Zealand's emerging talents to test themselves against.
Potter says those are just some of the logistical issues to sort out before they can confirm the Huskies' participation.
"There are risks with extending ourselves in this direction, so we have to be appropriately cautious. All of those logistics are potential issues; we've been working our way through that."
The addition would undoubtedly cause mixed reaction in NBL circles. The threat of an Australian team winning New Zealand's national league would be an affront to some, while questions would be asked about including an Australian side when representation from the upper North Island is still so poor in the NBL.
However, for a league that has often been two-tiered in its competitiveness, having a solid franchise with financial support would be a definite bonus, and provide a competitive outfit to test New Zealand's best players.
Most importantly, Potter says the current NBL teams are on board with the concept.
"We've talked to New Zealand teams about the possibility and they were hugely supportive.
"All the discussions are positive – we think we're most of the way there."
