National Basketball League Of Canada

[Hepcat]

The National Basketball League of Canada is now the Basketball Super League. The London Lightning three-peated as League champions in May 2024.

The London Lightning anyway are more than competitive with G-League teams. The Lighting defeated the Raptors 905 by a score of 99-92 the last time they played on 28 October 2017. Granted that the G-League is just a joke, but the London Lightning are certainly the best basketball team in Canada after the Toronto Raptors.

[Hepcat]

So in game seven of the NBL of Canada Finals in Halifax on Friday it was:

London Lightning 109 Halifax Hurricanes 101



The Lightning therefore repeated as league champions and have now won four championships in the league's first seven years.

[Hepcat]

There's very good competitive balance in the NBL of Canada this year. Perennial contenders London Lightning lead the loop with a 19-9 record just ahead of the Halifax Hurricanes who are 17-9. The Kitchener-Waterloo Titans are the cellar dwellers with a 5-20 mark but the next worst are the Cape Breton Highlanders and the Island Storm with respectable records of 11-16.

[Hepcat]

So in a game played in London on October 28th, it was:

London Lightning 99 Raptors 905 92



Ryan Anderson led London with 28 points. Royce White had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists.

Since the Raptors 905 are the reigning champions of the NBA G-League, the Lightning's victory implies that the standard of play in the NBL of Canada is pretty good indeed and below that of only the NBA in North America.

[Hepcat]

The National Basketball League of Canada currently has two tight geographical groupings. Here they are with the population of each municipality in brackets followed by the seating capacities of the facilities in which they play:

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Cape Breton (Sydney 29,904) Highlanders (5000)
Halifax (316,701) Hurricanes (11,093)
Island (Charlottetown 44,739) Storm (4000)
Moncton (71,889) Miracles (6554)
Saint John (67,575) Riptide (6603)

Geographically these five teams are all tightly grouped in the three Maritime provinces.

CENTRAL DIVISION

Kitchener-Waterloo (338,208) Titans (7312)
London (383,822) Lightning (9046)
Niagara (St. Catharines 133,113) River Lions (5300)
Orangeville (30,729) A's
Windsor (217,188) Express (6500)

These five teams are all tightly grouped in Southwestern Ontario. The tight geographical groupings are of course great for keeping travel and its costs down.

Orangeville was previously based in Brampton whose population is 577,000. Brampton though is really just a suburb of Toronto and doesn't have much of a civic identity of its own. The basketball fan base in Brampton is therefore fixated on the Toronto Raptors and the A's were unable to carve out their own niche.

While the level of competition is very decent, team payrolls are very low. NBL of Canada teams operate with a salary cap of $150,000. That works out to an average of $12,500 a season per player, but veterans generally earn a larger wage of as much as $4,500 a month or $27,000 over the course of the six-month season.

Therefore I doubt that the London Lightning would even make the playoffs in the Spanish ACB. In fact I'm not even sure the Lightning would make the playoffs in the Lithuanian LKL.

[JGX]

Nice to see Royce White bouncing back.

[Hepcat]

So the London Lightning won their third championship in the NBL Canada's six year existence earlier this week with a 129-116 game six victory in a best of seven series against the Halifax Hurricanes.



The Lightning were also the dominant force in the ten team league's regular season with a 35-5 record. There was good competitive balance in the league otherwise as the record of the last place Niagara Lions was a respectable 14-26.

The league mandates a minimum of four Canadian players per team.

The Lightning drew an average of 5429 fans per game this year. The Island Storm of Charlottetown was far behind in second place though with an average attendance of 1934.

The number of teams is set to expand again in 2017-18. I can't see the Orangeville A's staying in Orangeville because the team drew only 293 fans per game despite a 16-24 record. Orangeville has a population of less than 30,000 so it's not exactly a prime location for a franchise. Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton and Quebec City would seem to be the most attractive markets for additional teams.

[Hepcat]

So in game seven it was:

Halifax Hurricanes 125 London Lightning 117

Very sad.

[Hepcat]

Game seven for the championship tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM in Halifax between the London Lightning and the Halifax Hurricanes!

[Hepcat]

So what is the deal with this league, what is the level of the product/play and what are the plans or ambitions of it?

I understand that Canadian Olivier Hanlan is earning 165,000 euros playing for Žalgiris Kaunas this year in the Lithuanian Basketball League where he's currently struggling. His salary is far in excess of what he could hope to earn in the NBL. And of course Canadian national team players such as Andy Rautins, Aaron Doornekamp and Phil Scrubb currently play in Europe and not in the NBL.

My suspicion therefore is that the London Lightning would finish near the bottom in Euroleague but might perhaps contend to just make the playoffs in the Italian or Spanish leagues.

[Hepcat]

So the London Lightning defeated the Windsor Express 107-88 in game six of the semifinals and London will now play the Halifax Hurricanes who rolled over the Saint John Mill Rats in the NBL finals.

[Hepcat]

The National Basketball League of Canada is the best basketball league in North America not controlled by the NBA.

The London Lightning were the league champions in 2012 and 2013 while the Windsor Express were the champions in 2014 and 2015. With a 24-14 record, the London Lightning look good again this year. The Halifax Hurricanes at 27-10 also look to be serious contenders.

[CKR13]

Almost a week and I am still appalled what happened in Game 7 of the Windsor - Halifax series. Windsor wins by default and both sides accused one another of grave assault leading to player injuries. A step back for the league.

[CHBB]

I was just about to start a thread asking about this league as I didn't even know it existed before seeing it on Wikipedia about an hour ago.

Thank God for interbasket haha

So what is the deal with this league, what is the level of the product/play and what are the plans or ambitions of it?

Also, where, if anywhere, can I watch games?

I've been saying for a few years now that Canada needs its own legitimate professional and college leagues, and low and behold they have the NBL. This is good because to me there are only three possible markets for the NBA in Canada, and one of them currently has a team while another had a team for about five years. I think it could be similar to the Euroleague in Europe where each country has its own domestic league(s) and the biggest markets have teams in the top tier league, the NBA.

[Hepcat]

Yes! Go Lightning!