By taking part in the 2022-23 7DAYS EuroCup, London Lions opens a new era for British basketball. Fully established as one of the teams to beat in the country, London won the British League in 2019 and ranked third last season. The club is set to play its home games at Copper Box Arena, giving 6,000 fans the chance to cheer for their team in this new adventure. There are many challenges and tough games to face throughout the regular season, and here are four big ones.
2022-23 Games to Watch: London Lions
Round 1: Battle of newcomers
London visits Hapoel Tel Aviv on October 11, becoming the third British team to take part in the competition. Brighton Bears was the maiden British squad in the EuroCup and went 4-6 in the 2003-04 campaign. In its last game, a 112-103 double-overtime home win against Cholet Basket, Randy Duck scored 49 points, which is still the competition’s all-time record. Guildford Heat took part in the 2007-08 EuroCup and bowed out with a 0-10 record. London starts a new journey at Tel Aviv’s Drive in Arena.
Round 2: The EuroCup in London
The game between London and Dolomiti Energia Trento will be the first EuroCup contest played in London. The English capital hosted the 2013 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, in which Olympiacos Piraeus secured the continental crown. Trento failed to reach the knockout rounds last season and should be a tough opponent in the Lions' home opener at Copper Box.
Round 9: Capital showdowns
From the moment that the 2022-23 EuroCup teams were announced, and considering there are just two regular-season groups, there was a lot of anticipation to see if London and Paris Basketball would land in the same group. It worked out that way, and they will meet each other at Copper Box on December 21. They also meet in both teams' regular-season finale in Round 18 in Paris!
Round 15: A pivotal home stretch
Before that final game in Paris, London will have played three of its previous four games at home. Its only road game in almost two months should be against Slask Wroclaw, which qualified for the knockout rounds last season as one of the eighth-ranked squads. If London beats Slask, it may have a strong chance to qualify for the next round in its next two home games – against Promitheas Patras in Round 16 and Turk Telekom Ankara in Round 17.