April 30, 2025 • 11 mins
NBL basketball officials say they're considering options regarding the future of the Indian Panthers after meetings involving all 12 clubs today.
In a statement, the league says they were made aware last Friday of delayed payments to players, before meeting with Panthers ownership on Monday.
The league was informed yesterday that players had been paid - and told plans were in place for the Rams game to proceed, before players elected not to take to the court.
Panthers CEO Parveen Batish admits players were being short-changed, but says he'd solved the matter before the game.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk ZIB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good evening, Hi, how are you good.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's been a massive day for the Panthers. Been through
series of meetings with sales, NBL Basketball and New Zeland
and the like. First up, from your point of view
is a CEO. Can you tell me what's unfolded, what's
happened over the last couple of days. That's I suppose
force this mediation if you will.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, sure, you know, it's unfortunate what's happened in the
last few days. But the last few days haven't been
in in kind of isolation. There's been a, I guess
a concerted effort to undermine where we are. But before
I get into that, I just want to say that,
you know, we're not without fault. I put my hands
up and say, you know, like any new franchise or
(00:54):
any new business for that matter, you know, we've had
our teething problems, some of which have been financial, so
you know, sometimes payments have been slightly delayed from where
you'd expect, especially to players. But that's been my focus
is to make sure that that happens. And I can
can tell you that you know, as of today, all
(01:15):
players have been on New Zealand. Players who have represented
us have been have been paid in full, and you
know that's always been my aim to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Suggest your cash flow must be awful, provene if you
can't pay your players, and some players are saying, look,
we haven't been paid for months. Even though this has
been this discourse, this discussion has been out there in
the public arena. Did you guys not turn up with
enough money to simply pay your bills? I think, first
and foremost, if you're a professional player, that'll be something
(01:46):
I'd be looking for to pay your figure, family and
the like as well. This strikes me as a little strange.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, it's not months with players have been paid. There
was a payment they made probably about four weeks ago
to all the players, so the payments were due now
and I told them that we have been in communication
with them, so it's not like it's not it's not happening.
(02:12):
And like I said before, we're not the first team
to be to be in this situation, but the situation
has been kind of forced on us as well, so
you know, we've had to look at ways that we
could cut our costs. So, for example, if I tell
you that our original you know, place that we were
playing in was costing us just to open the doors
before we did anything, was costing us fifteen thousand dollars
(02:33):
per game, and we had five home games on the trot.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, it's surely you've got a situation like this as
a CEO of a new franchise coming in that you
would have put all that down on place and you'd
know this. It wasn't a surprise bill if you.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Will, No, one hundred percent, you're quite right that you
do know these things, and you try your best to
make sure that your clash cash flow fits in. And
we've made sure that we could play our games, and
our priority was to pay our players, and that's what
we've been doing. So, like I said to you before,
it's not that we've been we haven't paid. You know,
people can put out social media posts and there's nothing
(03:09):
you can say about it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
But well, so there's say Alex Robinson character that see
what he left into the Giants? Didn't he said, you
didn't pay him, So what drove a man to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I have no idea. He was paid on the twenty
first to March. He was paid again on the twenty
eighth of March. He What people don't know is that
he actually walked out on his teammates. So after the
first quarter against the Sharks, because he had only had
two shots in the whole game and other players were
outshining him, he refused to play in the second quarter
(03:38):
when in at halftime, refused to take the field, got
in the car, drove home, packed his bags and left
without saying anything to anyone. Now nobody knows that. And
that wasn't because he wasn't paid. That was purely and
he told me the next day when we met, it's
because he needs to look after his next his next gig,
so he needs to make sure his stats and so
(03:59):
on are correct. Does nobody knows that?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do the Giants? Do the giants know that? Preven the
giants if they knew that, they'd be going out on
what have we done?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Well? Somebody was helping him get that job prior to
him even leaving. There was a reason why he left.
You don't just walk out on your team. How do
you how do you tell me as a professional player,
as a as an import professional player, how do you
maybe your teammates after the first quarter not take the
floor and then leave at halftime. Who does that?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It sounds to me like there's a there's a there's
a culture issue within the club if this has happening,
that it's falling apart in front of people's eyes. And
you've got the coach that left before a game was
actually played. The results well, the Giants having their great
results either, so we'll push that to one side. But
sounds to me like it's just a bit thin. The
culture's not working and that's why you're having these problems
(04:51):
along with the cy called payment issues.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And I can't deny that because our product is not
what it should be. We should have had eight to
ten Indian players only we've only had three. So you
can't build a product with only three people that are
to be the centerpiece of your product. So we have
had some issues with regard to that. But what I
will also say is that if there's an element that
(05:16):
wants to undermine you, and they will do that, and
they will make mountains out of mole hills. And that's
essentially what's been happening over the past I don't know
how many weeks, culminating in what you saw, okay. Each
player was spoken to on Tuesday morning, told what they
would be receiving and asked if that was okay. Every
(05:37):
one of them said yes, it's fine, and then somebody
who had been doing this for a period of time
made sure that none of those players turned up except
him and one other.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Sounds like you've been aware of us. We're talking the
CEO of the Indian Panthers right now, Provin Batish, you've
known about this for a while. Can you name the
character and can you give us an idea about why
he'd go to his way to try and undermine a
club and the cells NBLS a financial thing, there's a
(06:08):
payback situation. Where does it come from? Who is it?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm not going to say who it was because that
wouldn't be the right thing to do. But said individual
wanted to be the general manager, wasn't offered that position
in the end, and since then there's been an undercurrent
of trying to do things. And it's only sometimes when
you look back in hindsight and you look at the
signs and someone that you read these, You read these things,
(06:31):
because let's face it, I'm like anybody else. My first
instinct is to trust people, is to put them on
my side. And it's only when you look back sometimes
in hindsight, that you think, well, actually there was there
was a process here that was going on for a
period of time and that's what's happened. So my fault,
I'm trusting. I believe in people. I'm a I've always
(06:52):
been a people's person. I try to communicate as open
and openly, as honestly as I as I can with everybody.
So everyone knew that knew the situation, and I can't
I can't help it. If somebody wants to undermine That's
not an issue for me. That's an issue for other
people to understand and to question why somebody would would
(07:14):
want to do this at such a big initiative. And
let's face it, the reason we're doing this. Our philosophy
right from the beginning has been about development. The reason
we got into this is because we wanted to help
develop Indian players. Now our fault that we haven't had
as many as we wanted to. But why would somebody
want to undermine all of that for some other agenda
(07:37):
other than the promotion of the game. I just don't
understand it. Who did.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
The players were actually planning he will walk off and
last night's game on live TV? Is there the oil
you got as well?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I got to hear about that later. I didn't even
know that, but yes, that's what they were going to do. Now,
if that's not bringing the game, the league and the
other clubs into distribute, then I don't know what isn't look.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
At the drive though? Why would anyone do this? This
is what I want to know. I mean, what would
the one to undermine sales? NBL? It's a wonderful, lovely
competition and they want to undermine the Panthers or the expansion?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Where where does this come from? All I can tell
you is it is driven by somebody's personal agenda. And
I've tried to give you an insight into what that
might what that might be, and it's you know, people
sometimes feel that they're bigger than everything else, everything else
that's going on around them. And the reason we're all
all in this is because of that situation. If that
(08:35):
game had gone ahead last night, we wouldn't be even
talking right now.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Do you think maybe it would have been better if
it had just been delayed? Like the whole entry to
the sales. NBL had have waited a while, so you
weren't I suppose up for situations or issues like that.
And I go back to what I asked before, Has
the club got any money? You guys solvent?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We're solvent. Sometimes sometimes cash flow is slow, sometimes it's okay,
but we're absolutely solvent and we we will continue to be.
To be solvent, we have you know, the owners are
not without resource. It's one hundred percent. We are solvent.
And before we sign up with the league, there's a
huge diligent process that the league goes through. So we
(09:19):
have to prove that we're solvent. We have to prove
that that you know, we have the backing and the
money and all those kind of things. But you know,
like I said, in any business, sometimes it's the cash
flow that kills you. And that's been out our issue.
Now we're fixing that. So to go forward, that's exactly
what we're going And if I was, you know, the commission,
if I was the league, that's exactly what I'll be saying.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Is that what's going to come out tomorrow proven Because
this is coming out tomorrow. Do you think you'll be
in the NBL at this stage? Tomorrow. What what's your
gut feeling around what the NBA are going to do here?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Look, it's it's not my decision. All I can tell
you is that everyone's been really supportive, and I thank
them for that. Whatever decision they make, I can't, I can't.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You know, so the other club the other clubs have
been supportive, then have they?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
The other clubs have been supportive. Yes, everyone's been supported.
But at the end of the day, we're only eight
weeks old. Okay, the league's been going for forty years plus,
So I fully understand. You know that the if clubs
or the league want to protect you know, their legacy
and their you know what's been going on over the
last forty two years plus. I fully get that. We're
(10:25):
eight weeks old, and I think people forget that we
didn't and this is my fault. We didn't turn up
as a fully fledged club. We turned up as a
team that tried to be a club. You can't do
that over takes time, and when you don't have the
team that you want and you're reliant on other people,
that's where all the noise comes from. And that's what
(10:45):
we need to fix, and that's what I want to
try and fix given the opportunity in the next two weeks.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So that's your gut feeling though, that you will survive,
that the Indian Panthers will be around and you'll still
be in the role of the CEO.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I can't. I can't. I can't answer the first part
of that question. That's for other people to decide, and
I'm sure they will make the right decision. Will I
be still be the CEO? Well, I hope, so, you know,
you can. You can only do the best with what
you've got, and if that's not good enough, then that's
for the owners to decide if I if I carry
(11:19):
on or not. I'm you know, I'm with the with
everything that else that's going on around the around the world,
with what we're what we're trying to do. It's a
it's a big job.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Duncie Wildergrave
from News Talk ZIB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good evening, Hi, how are you good.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's been a massive day for the Panthers. Been through
series of meetings with sales, NBL Basketball and New Zeland
and the like. First up, from your point of view
is a CEO. Can you tell me what's unfolded, what's
happened over the last couple of days. That's I suppose
force this mediation if you will.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, sure, you know, it's unfortunate what's happened in the
last few days. But the last few days haven't been
in in kind of isolation. There's been a, I guess
a concerted effort to undermine where we are. But before
I get into that, I just want to say that,
you know, we're not without fault. I put my hands
up and say, you know, like any new franchise or
(00:54):
any new business for that matter, you know, we've had
our teething problems, some of which have been financial, so
you know, sometimes payments have been slightly delayed from where
you'd expect, especially to players. But that's been my focus
is to make sure that that happens. And I can
can tell you that you know, as of today, all
(01:15):
players have been on New Zealand. Players who have represented
us have been have been paid in full, and you
know that's always been my aim to do that.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Suggest your cash flow must be awful, provene if you
can't pay your players, and some players are saying, look,
we haven't been paid for months. Even though this has
been this discourse, this discussion has been out there in
the public arena. Did you guys not turn up with
enough money to simply pay your bills? I think, first
and foremost, if you're a professional player, that'll be something
(01:46):
I'd be looking for to pay your figure, family and
the like as well. This strikes me as a little strange.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, it's not months with players have been paid. There
was a payment they made probably about four weeks ago
to all the players, so the payments were due now
and I told them that we have been in communication
with them, so it's not like it's not it's not happening.
(02:12):
And like I said before, we're not the first team
to be to be in this situation, but the situation
has been kind of forced on us as well, so
you know, we've had to look at ways that we
could cut our costs. So, for example, if I tell
you that our original you know, place that we were
playing in was costing us just to open the doors
before we did anything, was costing us fifteen thousand dollars
(02:33):
per game, and we had five home games on the trot.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, it's surely you've got a situation like this as
a CEO of a new franchise coming in that you
would have put all that down on place and you'd
know this. It wasn't a surprise bill if you.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Will, No, one hundred percent, you're quite right that you
do know these things, and you try your best to
make sure that your clash cash flow fits in. And
we've made sure that we could play our games, and
our priority was to pay our players, and that's what
we've been doing. So, like I said to you before,
it's not that we've been we haven't paid. You know,
people can put out social media posts and there's nothing
(03:09):
you can say about it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
But well, so there's say Alex Robinson character that see
what he left into the Giants? Didn't he said, you
didn't pay him, So what drove a man to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I have no idea. He was paid on the twenty
first to March. He was paid again on the twenty
eighth of March. He What people don't know is that
he actually walked out on his teammates. So after the
first quarter against the Sharks, because he had only had
two shots in the whole game and other players were
outshining him, he refused to play in the second quarter
(03:38):
when in at halftime, refused to take the field, got
in the car, drove home, packed his bags and left
without saying anything to anyone. Now nobody knows that. And
that wasn't because he wasn't paid. That was purely and
he told me the next day when we met, it's
because he needs to look after his next his next gig,
so he needs to make sure his stats and so
(03:59):
on are correct. Does nobody knows that?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Do the Giants? Do the giants know that? Preven the
giants if they knew that, they'd be going out on
what have we done?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Well? Somebody was helping him get that job prior to
him even leaving. There was a reason why he left.
You don't just walk out on your team. How do
you how do you tell me as a professional player,
as a as an import professional player, how do you
maybe your teammates after the first quarter not take the
floor and then leave at halftime. Who does that?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
It sounds to me like there's a there's a there's
a culture issue within the club if this has happening,
that it's falling apart in front of people's eyes. And
you've got the coach that left before a game was
actually played. The results well, the Giants having their great
results either, so we'll push that to one side. But
sounds to me like it's just a bit thin. The
culture's not working and that's why you're having these problems
(04:51):
along with the cy called payment issues.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And I can't deny that because our product is not
what it should be. We should have had eight to
ten Indian players only we've only had three. So you
can't build a product with only three people that are
to be the centerpiece of your product. So we have
had some issues with regard to that. But what I
will also say is that if there's an element that
(05:16):
wants to undermine you, and they will do that, and
they will make mountains out of mole hills. And that's
essentially what's been happening over the past I don't know
how many weeks, culminating in what you saw, okay. Each
player was spoken to on Tuesday morning, told what they
would be receiving and asked if that was okay. Every
(05:37):
one of them said yes, it's fine, and then somebody
who had been doing this for a period of time
made sure that none of those players turned up except
him and one other.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Sounds like you've been aware of us. We're talking the
CEO of the Indian Panthers right now, Provin Batish, you've
known about this for a while. Can you name the
character and can you give us an idea about why
he'd go to his way to try and undermine a
club and the cells NBLS a financial thing, there's a
(06:08):
payback situation. Where does it come from? Who is it?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm not going to say who it was because that
wouldn't be the right thing to do. But said individual
wanted to be the general manager, wasn't offered that position
in the end, and since then there's been an undercurrent
of trying to do things. And it's only sometimes when
you look back in hindsight and you look at the
signs and someone that you read these, You read these things,
(06:31):
because let's face it, I'm like anybody else. My first
instinct is to trust people, is to put them on
my side. And it's only when you look back sometimes
in hindsight, that you think, well, actually there was there
was a process here that was going on for a
period of time and that's what's happened. So my fault,
I'm trusting. I believe in people. I'm a I've always
(06:52):
been a people's person. I try to communicate as open
and openly, as honestly as I as I can with everybody.
So everyone knew that knew the situation, and I can't
I can't help it. If somebody wants to undermine That's
not an issue for me. That's an issue for other
people to understand and to question why somebody would would
(07:14):
want to do this at such a big initiative. And
let's face it, the reason we're doing this. Our philosophy
right from the beginning has been about development. The reason
we got into this is because we wanted to help
develop Indian players. Now our fault that we haven't had
as many as we wanted to. But why would somebody
want to undermine all of that for some other agenda
(07:37):
other than the promotion of the game. I just don't
understand it. Who did.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
The players were actually planning he will walk off and
last night's game on live TV? Is there the oil
you got as well?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I got to hear about that later. I didn't even
know that, but yes, that's what they were going to do. Now,
if that's not bringing the game, the league and the
other clubs into distribute, then I don't know what isn't look.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
At the drive though? Why would anyone do this? This
is what I want to know. I mean, what would
the one to undermine sales? NBL? It's a wonderful, lovely
competition and they want to undermine the Panthers or the expansion?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Where where does this come from? All I can tell
you is it is driven by somebody's personal agenda. And
I've tried to give you an insight into what that
might what that might be, and it's you know, people
sometimes feel that they're bigger than everything else, everything else
that's going on around them. And the reason we're all
all in this is because of that situation. If that
(08:35):
game had gone ahead last night, we wouldn't be even
talking right now.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Do you think maybe it would have been better if
it had just been delayed? Like the whole entry to
the sales. NBL had have waited a while, so you
weren't I suppose up for situations or issues like that.
And I go back to what I asked before, Has
the club got any money? You guys solvent?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We're solvent. Sometimes sometimes cash flow is slow, sometimes it's okay,
but we're absolutely solvent and we we will continue to be.
To be solvent, we have you know, the owners are
not without resource. It's one hundred percent. We are solvent.
And before we sign up with the league, there's a
huge diligent process that the league goes through. So we
(09:19):
have to prove that we're solvent. We have to prove
that that you know, we have the backing and the
money and all those kind of things. But you know,
like I said, in any business, sometimes it's the cash
flow that kills you. And that's been out our issue.
Now we're fixing that. So to go forward, that's exactly
what we're going And if I was, you know, the commission,
if I was the league, that's exactly what I'll be saying.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Is that what's going to come out tomorrow proven Because
this is coming out tomorrow. Do you think you'll be
in the NBL at this stage? Tomorrow. What what's your
gut feeling around what the NBA are going to do here?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Look, it's it's not my decision. All I can tell
you is that everyone's been really supportive, and I thank
them for that. Whatever decision they make, I can't, I can't.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
You know, so the other club the other clubs have
been supportive, then have they?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
The other clubs have been supportive. Yes, everyone's been supported.
But at the end of the day, we're only eight
weeks old. Okay, the league's been going for forty years plus,
So I fully understand. You know that the if clubs
or the league want to protect you know, their legacy
and their you know what's been going on over the
last forty two years plus. I fully get that. We're
(10:25):
eight weeks old, and I think people forget that we
didn't and this is my fault. We didn't turn up
as a fully fledged club. We turned up as a
team that tried to be a club. You can't do
that over takes time, and when you don't have the
team that you want and you're reliant on other people,
that's where all the noise comes from. And that's what
(10:45):
we need to fix, and that's what I want to
try and fix given the opportunity in the next two weeks.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
So that's your gut feeling though, that you will survive,
that the Indian Panthers will be around and you'll still
be in the role of the CEO.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I can't. I can't. I can't answer the first part
of that question. That's for other people to decide, and
I'm sure they will make the right decision. Will I
be still be the CEO? Well, I hope, so, you know,
you can. You can only do the best with what
you've got, and if that's not good enough, then that's
for the owners to decide if I if I carry
(11:19):
on or not. I'm you know, I'm with the with
everything that else that's going on around the around the world,
with what we're what we're trying to do. It's a
it's a big job.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
For more from sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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