[1][2] On 30 June 2008, it was announced that the Bullets license had been returned to the NBL, following financial difficulties for owner Eddy Groves and the failure of attempts to find a new ownership group.

Finishing in third place, winning 17 of their 22-season games, the Bullets met the West Adelaide Bearcats in the second semi-final, losing 101–94.

Brisbane finished in fifth place, but first-placed St. Kilda did not attend the finals, as they were in Brazil contesting the World Club Championship.

Import guard Ron "The Rat" Radliff, known for his long curly hair and brilliant outside shooting, played his first season for the Bullets and in the NBL in 1983.

Unfortunately, they were not successful in capturing their first championship, losing to the defending champion Canberra Cannons 84–82 who were led by the Australian Boomers point guard Phil Smyth.

The Bullets had emerged as the league's most powerful team under Brian Kerle and again finished in first place the 1985 season with a 20–6 record, and were again Grand Finalists after a hard-fought win over the Cannons in the finals.

With the game being held at their home venue, the Chandler Arena, the Bullets were still favourites to defeat the Adelaide 36ers (whose merger with the Bearcats in 1985 had seen them become an NBL force for the first time) in what was to be the last single game grand final in NBL history despite the 36ers defeating the Newcastle Falcons by the record score of 151–103 in their semi-final.

Perth were player/coached by former Bullets favourite Cal Bruton, who had left the club at the end of 1986 after a public falling out with Brian Kerle.

Bruton had successfully turned the Wildcats into a championship contender with the addition of forwards Kendall "Tiny" Pinder and the "Alabama Slamma" James Crawford.

Boosted by new imports Derek Rucker and Andre Moore, the Bullets made a huge turn around in 1990, finishing in third place and going 18–8 for the season.

The addition of veteran Australian Boomers centre and the NBL's all-time leading rebounder Mark Bradtke after the 2005–06 season saw expectations rise for the Bullets once more.

During the 2006–07 pre-season Blitz, the Bullets won all three of their group stage games to finish at the top of Pool A and advance to the quarter-finals.

In March 2008, following the 2007–08 season, the Bullets' childcare-centre mogul owner Eddy Groves – who had run into financial strife with his ABC Learning Centres empire – announced he would be forced to sell the club.

[7] However, in May 2012, the NBL announced that the Bullets' return was rejected, on the heels of another Queensland-based team, the Gold Coast Blaze, going into administration.

[8] In November 2013, with the NBL under new management, CEO Fraser Neill announced that bringing the Bullets back to Brisbane was a priority.

[9] In March 2014, the #BringBackTheBullets social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram commenced with an aim to raise awareness for the return of professional basketball to Brisbane as soon as possible.

After years of public outcry to have a Brisbane team back in the NBL, moves were finally put in place to have the Bullets return to the league for the 2016–17 season in September 2015.

The largest attendance for the Bullets was on 26 October 1990 when 13,221 fans saw them defeat the Perth Wildcats 106–90 in Game 2 of the 1990 Grand Final series.

The move to the BEC was a risky one as it was (at the time) almost twice the capacity of the NBL's next largest venue, the 7,200 seat Glass House in Melbourne.

Previously teams had played out of small arenas and even local sports centres (e.g. Auchenflower Stadium) which had limited seating.

[12] However, with the construction of Nissan Arena in 2019, the Bullets chose to relocate to combine their front office, training centre and home stadium into one facility.