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London Lions will become the first British club in history to face an NBA team when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers in a preseason game at the Moda Center on Monday 12 October 2026. The fixture tips off at 1:00pm local time, which means a 9:00pm BST slot for supporters in the UK, giving the Lions a prime-time autumn stage for one of the biggest nights in the club’s history. It is the first time a club side from the United Kingdom has ever shared the floor with an NBA franchise, and it arrives at a moment when British basketball’s profile continues to rise both domestically and internationally.
The celebrated basketball from British forward OG Anunoby’s legendary game-winning tip-in during Game 4 of the NBA Finals 2026 is officially heading to Sotheby’s, with experts projecting the artifact could fetch up to $3 million. This iconic piece of sports memorabilia represents the crowning moment of the New York Knicks’ first championship run in 53 years, sealing one of many dramatic comeback victories against the San Antonio Spurs during their best-of-seven championship series in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, presented by Google. Engineering the largest rally in Finals history after trailing by 29 points deep into the third quarter, a resurgence fueled by setting an unprecedented playoff record of 14 three-pointers in a single half.
Kasparas Jakucionis will be representing Lithuania during the upcoming summer window of the FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers, the Lithuanian Basketball Association announced. The young Miami Heat guard is set to join the national team for two important Group D games in July. Lithuania will face Great Britain on July 2 before taking on Italy on July 5.
According to many sources close to the bidding process, the interest for the NBA project is coming mainly from US funds, that are aiming for the UK and Rome, while there’s also local interest for Paris. Due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, Arabian funds are currently more reluctant. However, there’s money on the table, even if everyone agrees at this point that nobody is willing to pay a 500M fee to enter the new league.
“The NBA’s ambitions to expand into Europe represent a massive opportunity for the U.K.,” said Lisa Nandy, secretary for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the U.K. “Franchises could deliver billions of pounds in economic growth and create jobs, but just as importantly, they would bring unforgettable moments for fans right here on home soil. We’re excited to work with the NBA as plans progress.”
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NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has now explained why the league is pushing forward with the project and which markets it views as priorities. "If you're a fan, it's hard to follow professional basketball in Europe. It's easy to follow the NBA, but it's hard to follow European basketball," Tatum told Sportico. "Top tier at EuroLeague is missing some of the biggest commercial markets in Europe. There's no top-tier team in the UK at all, and the UK is the biggest market in Europe. There's no top-tier basketball team there: in London, in Manchester. "There's no permanent top-tier team in the top league there in Paris, in Berlin, in Rome," the executive went on to say. "So, they're missing the biggest commercial markets, which is why they are not able to commercialize basketball.
"Our idea is to create this league – call it 12 to 16 teams – with the biggest countries having permanent franchises. Call it the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, or France. Two teams in each one of those markets that we know with certainty will have franchises there, and then we'll open it up to the rest of the ecosystem."
Khan has also set up taskforce designed specifically to help to grow British basketball that includes representation from various bodies across sport, governance and basketball. "100% basketball can sort itself out," said London Lions CEO Lenz Balan, part of Khan's taskforce. "There are a lot of positive things even independent of NBA Europe and EuroLeague and Fiba being interested in our league and that's driven by the clubs themselves and the Super League Basketball. "There's capital coming in, there's expertise coming into the ecosystem. I think everybody within the SLB is sort of on the same page."
Jeremy Sochan on why he plays for Poland and not the UK: I'm going to be honest. I was playing for both teams. I went to Copenhagen I think with England, had a great tournament. At the same time I was playing for Poland. I had a good tournament there. You got to balance it out. And I looked at both options and we got to be honest, at the time I had way more opportunities with Poland whether it was games, training camps, testing, just exposure level to other European clubs, countries… It was on a different level at the time. It's a shame again if they were the same opportunities, what would I pick? I'm not sure. I can't tell you that. With Poland all the camps were free, the flights were free, whereas with England, it’s a struggle.
The O2 Arena will host the Memphis Grizzlies’ regular season home game against Orlando Magic in late January after the NBA took a six-year hiatus from the UK. Its return, combined with the match in Manchester in 2027, is expected to contribute £100m to the UK economy.
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British sports streaming giant DAZN is in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Main Street Sports Group, the big regional sports broadcaster in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. A deal could be announced as soon as January, if the talks don’t hit any snags, the people said.
NBA Europe managing director George Aivazoglou confirmed that the project will launch in October 2027, adding that teams from Rome, Milan (Italy), London, Manchester (United Kingdom), Paris, Lyon (France), Madrid, Barcelona (Spain), Berlin, Munich (Germany), one team from Athens (Greece) and Istanbul (Turkiye) will be playing in the competition.
FIBA has officially lifted the suspension preventing Great Britain from fielding a men’s national team, clearing the way for participation in the upcoming World Cup qualifying cycle — but the governing authority over domestic men’s competitions in Great Britain remains unresolved. FIBA has confirmed that the British Basketball Federation (BBF) is once again eligible to enter its men’s national team into senior international competitions, including the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers, which begin on November 27, 2025.
Also, while speaking about the markets with permanent franchises, he named seven countries. “In phase one, our plan is Spain, UK, France, Italy, Germany, maybe Turkey, and maybe Greece. But there will be some open spots in the ecosystem, so in the early phase, they will be able to qualify,” he replied to a question about NBA Europe featuring teams from Israel and the Middle East, which, for the moment, can’t aim for a permanent spot.