BA chief executive Larry Sengstock has a five-year plan to expand the elite men's league, starting with teams in Sydney and Brisbane, before exploring opportunities which could include returning to the capital.

Canberra's most iconic basketball brand was revived last week with Basketball ACT and Canberra Cannons joining forces to grow the sport.

While the Cannons have no immediate intentions of rejoining the national league, Sengstock still met with Canberra officials before the launch to discuss the sport's future in the region.

''I think it's an interesting idea,'' Sengstock said of the Cannons' revival. ''It's clever and there's a lot of goodwill and profile attached to the Cannons so to utilise that name is clever.

''Hopefully it increases the profile of that group and I'll definitely be interested to see how that pans out.''

New franchises hoping to join the NBL need to provide a $1million up-front guarantee and $500,000 working capital.

''We're not going to lower the expectations or criteria to enter the league,'' Sengstock said.

The Cannons will play in the South East Australian Basketball League, replacing the Canberra Gunners. They will play at the AIS Arena and hope to attract a similar following to what the Cannons did before they went broke in 2003.

Sengstock was confident Canberra could raise the required capital if it wanted to join the NBL in the future.

Canberra Cannons managing director Terry Ryan said it was encouraging to have Sengstock's support.

''All of our plans are geared to a full-scale assault on the SEABL and building a crowd and following there,'' Ryan said. ''We're concentrating on grassroots and [will] push our games with school kids and families.''