Anstey welcomes war of words

It's the hottest off-court topic in basketball, with opinions divided over the conduct of club owners in the public domain.

While some discourage owners speaking out, others encourage it.

Former MVP, Chris Anstey, believes it can be good for the game.

"First and foremost, Andrew Bogut very rarely says something without knowing something, so for him to come out and put that tweet forward in a semi-cryptic manner, something [must have] happened," he said on Thursday’s NBL Now.

"Let’s use an NBA comparison for a moment. Can you imagine how boring the Dallas Mavericks would’ve been if Mark Cuban never got on X and never spoke publicly?

"Let the owners speak, let the coaches speak. I know for one, all of a sudden with all of the conversations we’ve had this year about who we’d love to see match up against each other is Sydney and Adelaide, and it’s got nothing to do with the players.

"We need these kinds of rivalries. We need this kind of storyline away from the quarters or League.

"It’s where the League’s getting to. There are more eyes on it, there are more opinions on it. Let ’em go ... It doesn’t mean I agree with everything, but I think it’s fantastic."

Former Australian Boomer Aron Baynes also weighed into the debate on NBL Now.

"He's (Bogut) not averse to throwing a couple of tweets out now and then, is he? He's opinionated, which makes for good entertainment, especially in that world ... half the time he's just looking to bait people and the other half of the time, it's his opinion and he doesn't really care about whatever else is out there," Baynes said.

"It's entertaining if nothing else ... owner vs owner at that point ... is he an assistant coach or is he in his owner boots? It's an interesting thing and it's good to have some more back and forth that's not played-related. I like it.

"It's one of those things [laughing] ... just don't let himself be in the same boat later on."

RELATED: 36ers furious at Bogut tweet | "Mike has our 100 per cent support": Sixers back coach

Round 20 of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 season continues on Friday night with a double-header, tipping off with Tasmania hosting Brisbane from 7.30pm AEDT, before Perth battles Cairns from 9.30pm AEDT.

Both fixtures will be live on ESPN.