Friday night at the Copper Box Arena in Stratford: there are seconds left of the first quarter and London Lions are neck and neck with Surrey Scorchers. There’s a squeak of rubber sole on reflective floor as Jonathan Komagum ascends into the air, slam dunking the ball into the net seconds before the buzzer. It’s a riotous moment that secures a narrow lead for the Lions. In 20 minutes I’ve gone from struggling to grasp the scoring system to joining 3,000 other fans in screaming the names of players I’ve only just learnt. This game is important: if the Lions win tonight, they win the British Basketball League (BBL) Championship.
Reader, they win. Confetti blasts into the air as a giant silver trophy is brought on to the court. ‘We play hard and we play to win,’ Komagum tells me after the game. The 6ft 9in British-Ugandan is one of the team’s rising stars. He started playing basketball aged 14, first at school before joining local team Peckham Pride. He went on to join the City of London Academy team before landing a prestigious scholarship to play for Florida’s Pensacola State at college level. The past year has been a landmark one for the 24-year-old. He played for the Uganda national team at Fiba’s World Cup Qualifiers before joining the Lions in the summer, but it’s the British game that Komagum is truly passionate about.
‘When I was younger, all my role models were in the US,’ he explains. ‘Even as a basketball player, I played football in the parks because none of my friends wanted to do it. Now the courts are full, kids want to play and they can see people like me, born in Greenwich, Bradley [Kaboza], from Brixton — we’re showing them what’s possible.’
Komagum’s comments reflect a sea change in British basketball, and London Lions are at the forefront. Both the men and women’s teams are in the midst of historic seasons. Last year the men qualified for the EuroCup — the first BBL team to do so since 2007. The women are hoping to win the WBBL League for the second time, and are the first British team to qualify for the Fiba EuroCup Women.
‘We have the successes, but we really have to push to be put on the same level as the men’s game,’ explains Azania Stewart, a north Londoner who plays centre. ‘I don’t want to be that person, but sometimes I have to ask, “Would the men get that?” Their games are at prime time. We go at 12.30pm — why? Next week, we’re going at prime time and they’re going first. I pushed for two years for that.’ Stewart, who played for GB at the London Olympics, reached a ceiling in the UK and spent four seasons playing Division I basketball for the University of Florida. She has played for teams in Latvia, Hungary and Australia, but like Komagum, playing for London is special. ‘I’m so glad I can play here and do it for my friends and my family. When I was growing up, there was no Azania, so now I really try to mentor young girls and boys who want to play.’
As a team at the peak of their game, the women’s Lions are determined to create a legacy. ‘All athletes put in so many hours and so much sacrifice to perform,’ says Shanice Beckford-Norton, captain of the Lions. ‘Since becoming a professional player I have been fortunate enough to belong to teams who provide housing to players, which is a huge weight off. I know many players in our league who have to work [second jobs] in order to make a living, or because of the uncertainty of their basketball career. I hope we continue to grow the sport and give it the exposure it deserves.’
There’s never been a better time to follow British basketball. In late 2021, both the BBL and London Lions received a £7 million injection by Miami-based investment fund, 777 Partners. ‘We were in the UK and one of our founders, Josh Wander, was checking all the TV channels and just couldn’t find a basketball game,’ says Lenz Balan, vice-president of 777 and new director of the BBL. ‘It just wasn’t a thing. We thought it was bizarre, and then it became personal because there are all kinds of ways in which the funding mechanisms in UK sport leave a lot of kids out who deserve a chance to play.’
According to 777’s research, 59 per cent of ethnic minorities don’t feel UK sports teams represent the diversity of the country. ‘Basketball is so popular among young kids, kids of colour, immigrant communities. Walk around London, Manchester, Birmingham; there’s so much talent,’ says Balan. ‘If they’re given the right opportunity in terms of resources — indoor courts, high-quality basketball coaching — you’ll be able to create NBA-quality players.’
Basketball is so popular among young kids, kids of colour, immigrant communities. Walk around London; there’s so much talent
A study by Sport England found that basketball is one of the UK’s most popular team sports, second only to football, yet historically it has been hugely underfunded. After the GB team failed to win a medal in the 2012 Olympics, the government withdrew all funding to the British Basketball Federation. In 2018, Tottenham MP David Lammy challenged sports minister Tracy Crouch about the Government’s unconscious bias in its continued failure to support the sport.
‘Why is it that we are looking at the prospect of decimation for elite basketball in this country?’ he asked. ‘Almost 60 per cent of adults in this sport are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.’ That year, hockey received £28.1m funding and £51.6m went to the rugby league. For the current Olympic cycle, basketball will receive just over £1m. For context, modern pentathlon, a sport that requires a horse, a sword and a gun, will be awarded £5.4m.
And yet, the BBL is already feeling the effects of 777’s investment. ‘We’ve grown our broadcast viewership by about 200 per cent this year and we’re not even at the end of the season,’ says Joe Edwards, head of marketing at the BBL. More tickets are being sold, too. While the audience for the Lions vs the Scorchers was more than 3,000, Edwards tells me Lions game sales used to be closer to the 500 mark. ‘What we’re trying to do now from a league point of view, is [close] the gap between grassroots participation and fandom and in turn, help support the whole infrastructure of basketball. Fans in the UK will typically be watching the US game. We want to show them that we’ve got a world-class sport that’s worth engaging with here.’
To watch the game live is a thrilling experience: minute-to-minute action, world-class athleticism and even the odd court-side celeb: boxer Lawrence Okolie was at the Scorchers game and Maya Jama, Lethal Bizzle and Zlatan IbrahimoviÄ have all been spotted at recent Lions matches. While the British league may lack the slick commercial zeal of its US counterpart, teams such as London Lions possess the kind of scrappy tenacity that might just make their hoop dreams come true.
