The London Lions enter their debut season in the 7DAYS EuroCup with a lot of anticipation as the first English team to appear in the competition in 16 years. Back then, the Guildford Heat went 0-10 in the regular season and finished bottom of its group. Nobody in London's organization is expecting something like that to happen, following a summer in which it has significantly strengthened its roster and appointed a new head coach, Ryan Schmidt. London looks eager to shake things up in Group B.
BACKCOURT
London has just two of its guards remaining from the 2021-22 season: Bradley Kaboza and Josh Ward-Hibbert. The 21-year-old Kaboza joined the senior team in March and made an impact at both ends over the final stretch of the season, after which the club locked him up long-term with a four-year deal. Ward-Hibbert, a former professional tennis player, missed much of last season and hopes to have a bigger role this season. That won't be easy though because there is going to be a lot of competition for minutes this season. New signing Aaron Best, a Canadian international who briefly played under Coach Schmidt with Hamilton of Canada at the end of last season, figures to have a main role in the backcourt. London has made an effort of trying to bring the best English talent back to the country and it did so with the signing of Luke Nelson, a Great Britain international coming off a strong campaign in the French League. Swingman Mo Soluade, who brings EuroLeague experience from his time with Unicaja Malaga, returns home after playing the past few years in Spain. London also signed veteran EuroCup guard Tarik Phillip, but a knee injury has since sidelined him indefinitely. In his stead, the team made a move for point guard Devon Van Oostrum, another Great Britain international with EuroLeague experience.