The London Lightning is a Canadian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Ontario, Canada, with home games at the

Budweiser Gardens Budweiser Gardens is a sports-entertainment centre, in London, Ontario, Canada – the largest such centre in Southwestern Ontario. Until 2012, it was known as the John Labatt Centre. The John Labatt Centre, which opened on October 11, 2002, was ...

. The team is a charter member of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; french: Ligue nationale de basketball du Canada) is a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketb ...

(NBLC) that began play for the 2011–12 season and won the league's first championship. The Lightning have won the most NBLC championships with five.

History

The Lightning name was announced on August 12, 2011. On August 17, former Albany Patroons and

Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry The Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry was a professional basketball team based in Lawton, Oklahoma. They played in the Premier Basketball League after having been in the Continental Basketball Association. They have one PBL championship and also were th ...

head coach

Micheal Ray Richardson Micheal "Sugar" Ray Richardson (born April 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. He played college basketball for the Montana Grizzlies. The No. 4 overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Richardson played in ...

was announced as the Lightning's first head coach. The Lightning would go on to win the 2012 NBL championship, defeating the Halifax Rainmen 116-92 on March 25, 2012 at the John Labatt Centre to take the best-of-five championship series three games to two.

Carlos Knox Carlos Knox (born October 7, 1974) is a former American basketball player . He is considered one of the best players to ever represent Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, leading NCAA in scoring for two straight seasons. Knox ...

was unveiled as the new Lightning head coach on July 17, 2014. He led the team to an 18–14 record. Knox was dismissed in August 2015 after hiding player Jonathan Mills' positive drug test results from

Vito Frijia Vito Frijia is an Italian-Canadian businessman and construction engineer. He is currently the owner of the London Lightning of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). At the league's Board of Governors' meeting in May 2015, he was unanimo ...

and the league. He was replaced by former

Mississauga Power The Mississauga Power were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Mississauga, Ontario, that competed in the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). Established in as the Oshawa Power, they played in the Central Division (NBL Cana ...

head coach

Kyle Julius Kyle Julius (born June 20, 1979) is a Canadian former professional basketball player and coach, He currently serves as General Manager and head coach for the Vancouver Bandits of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) for the Taiwanese team ...

later in the month. Julius would lead the Lightning to back-to-back championship appearances in 2016 and 2017, winning the championship in the latter. He would be replaced by former Niagara College and interim

Niagara River Lions The Niagara River Lions are a Canadian professional basketball team based in St. Catharines, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. From 2015 to 2018, they were members of the National Basketball League of Canada. The Riv ...

head coach, Keith Vassell. Vassell led the Lightning to another championship in 2017–18, but was fired after a 4–4 record in the 2018–19 season.

Home arenas

Originally opened in 2002, the

is a sports-entertainment centre, in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, Canada. The arena has a capacity of 9,000. The Lightning shares the arena with

London Knights The London Knights are a junior ice hockey team from London, Ontario, Canada, playing in the Ontario Hockey League, one of the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League. The Knights started out in 1965 as the London Nationals but changed to their cu ...

of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overag ...

Current roster

Season-by-season record

References

External links

* {{Ontario Sports National Basketball League of Canada teams Sports teams in London, Ontario Basketball teams in Ontario Basketball teams established in 2011 2011 establishments in Ontario