Swansea City co-owner Romie Chaudhari has been awarded a licence for a new NBL team, with the location for the competition's ninth franchise yet to be determined.
NBL owner Larry Kestelman is committed to expanding the eight-team competition by 2019/20 with Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Chaudhari already invested in the league as a small stakeholder in the consortium which purchased the New Zealand Breakers earlier this year.
According to NBL chief executive Jeremy Loeliger, Chaudhari will "work closely" with the league to determine which Australian markets are viable and suitable locations for an expansion team.
"This is an exciting day for the NBL and Australian basketball. Romie is not only an enormously successful businessman but also a passionate and knowledgeable student of the sport," Loeliger said in a statement.
"He has identified the NBL is on a massive growth trajectory and his decision to invest in an expansion club is a huge endorsement of the NBL and reinforces the league is one of the best in the world.
"We will now work with him to identify the most suitable location for the new team but we've already had huge interest from around the country as we look to meet demand and growing interest in the game."
Meanwhile NBL Executive Director Larry Kestelman praised Chaudhari's willingness to throw his support behind the NBL, and said it was a testament to the strength of the NBL that investors from overseas were now taking interest in the domestic league.
"We are delighted to welcome Romie to the NBL. His investment continues the recent trend of influential business people returning to the sport of basketball in Australia and, in particular, to the NBL," he said.
Kestelman added that while the league had not decided on a location for the new team, there would be a number of non-negotiable requirements of any prospective franchise.
"A big part of the decision making process about where we locate the new team will be ensuring it has access to world class training and facilities that are up to NBL standards," the NBL's owner said.
The NBL is coming off a record year in both attendances and television audience numbers, while the league had announced it will once again send five local sides to play preseason matches against NBA teams in September/October.