‘The truth will prevail’: NBL boss Larry Kestelman stands firm ahead of Supreme Court battle with Hawks owner

Larry Kestelman says he has “no concerns” as the stoush with an NBL team owner, that has dominated the post season headlines, heads to the Supreme Court.

NBL owner Larry Kestelman speaks to the media. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images for the NBL

NBL boss Larry Kestelman says he has “no concerns” ahead of Friday’s Supreme Court battle with disgruntled Illawarra Hawks owner Jared Novelly, declaring: “The truth will prevail and haters are going to hate”.

Novelly’s stoush with Kestelman over how the NBL is run from a financial transparency perspective has dominated the post season headlines with accusations and complaints against the boss of the league.

The Hawks owner – who represents Crest Sport and Entertainment – alleges the NBL has breached its licence agreement by failing to disclose third-party transactions to companies owned by the league’s boss.

Novelly recently asked FIBA to investigate and suspend Kestelman – however this bid failed with the governing body referring the matter to Basketball Australia.

BA has also requested Crest reframe their grievances against the NBL because it currently doesn’t fall under the governing body’s jurisdiction.

Novelly’s concerns will be heard in the Supreme Court in Sydney on Friday.

NBL owner Larry Kestelman speaking to the media during a NBL media announcement. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images for the NBL

Kestelman, though, is standing firm, saying he isn’t worried about the NBL’s position amid conflict of interest claims.

“We’ve always done the right thing to grow the league,” Kestelman said at the launch of the NBL hosting the prestigious Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament in Sydney this September.

“We’ve got no concerns. You will have people who will want to ask questions and that is OK and fine by me. I’d prefer if they’d ask it in a different way, but we have no worries in where the NBL is at.

“The ecosystem continues to grow and this (EuroLeague announcement) is just another positive step.

“You’ll have haters who are going to hate and you’ve got us (the NBL) who want to grow the product.

“This week is about a celebration of basketball and we’ll deal with the shenanigans separately.”

Since Novelly publicly aired his conflict of interest issues with the NBL, Kestelman has sold his remaining ownership shares in the Brisbane Bullets and is in the process of divesting shares in Melbourne United.

Illawarra team owner Jared Novelly. Picture: Supplied

Asked if he feels like he has done everything to elevate question marks around the league, he said: “We always have. As I said, this week is about positivity. You look at where the NBL has come over the last 10 years.

“You’ve got by far people on the positive side and I’m excited about where the NBL is at and what we are going to do is continue to do the work to grow the NBL and the sport in this country.

“There is plenty of negativity in the world, but what we do here is a family sport and we’ll continue to do what we do.

“The other stuff will just play out.”

Larry Kestelman speaking to the media. Picture: Supplied

Code Sports understands if Novelly’s accusations against the NBL fail in the Supreme Court, the league will have grounds to remove him from the competition.

Asked if this was a possibility, Kestelman said: “As much as I want to stand here and tell the truth and defend myself, the truth will prevail.

“Today is a celebration for the NBL and the game with these two massive (EuroLeague) clubs, so quite frankly I won’t give the air to Jared or anyone else to suck out of this.

“This is a huge moment and the number of positive initiatives the league has had speaks for itself, so if people want to talk about things on the side that don’t relate to that then that shows what their reasons are.”

Originally published as ‘The truth will prevail’: NBL boss Larry Kestelman stands firm ahead of Supreme Court battle with Hawks owner