Description Available in: In 1984, the Melbourne Basketball Association entered the Tigers senior men's team into the National Basketball League (NBL) after decades of supremacy over Victorian basketball. By 2002, poor management had led losses to mount rapidly in the so-called professional phase of the Melbourne Basketball Association's ownership of the NBL franchise. Following the 2001–02 NBL season, the "friends of the Tigers" syndicate purchased the Melbourne Tigers NBL team, as the franchise entered into private ownership led by Seamus McPeake, ending the team's direct affiliation with the Melbourne Basketball Association.