Mike Martin (born 20 February 1974 in London, England) is a former British professional basketball player, who finished his career with the London Lions in the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

.Basketball: Martin undecided over Heat future
/ref> He is a current member of the British Masters over-45 team. The 6ft6 Forward started his career in 1996, where he spent two years before signing professional with BBL club

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

in 1998. However, after just one season, Martin started a nomadic career by signing for

Leopards The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

, in 1999, before moving to

Brighton Bears Brighton Bears was a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bask ...

and back to the Leopards, within the space of a few months. In 2001, after two seasons with his hometown franchise, Martin signed for

Thames Valley Tigers Thames Valley Tigers was a British professional basketball team that competed in the British Basketball League (BBL) until 2005, when funding was ceased and the franchise folded. Based in Bracknell, Berkshire, the team's fans set up a new team to ...

, the predecessors to his current club, Guildford. The following year, Martin was on the move again, this time to Europe, where he played for French team Saint Étienne, before moving back to the BBL to play for

Scottish Rocks The Caledonia Gladiators are a professional basketball club in Glasgow, Scotland. The Gladiators compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. Since 2012, the team have played their home games at the Emirates Ar ...

in 2003. After just a season back in his homeland, Martin moved again back to France, where he signed for JSF Nanterre of the Pro B Ligue. In 2005, Martin signed for Guildford in their rookie season, and also won a Bronze medal with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. In 2007, Martin was part of the Heat team that won their first piece of silverware in the

BBL Cup The British Basketball League Cup, often shortened to the BBL Cup, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral c ...

final, on 7 January, in an 81–78 win against

. Martin has been at the Heat ever since.

References

1974 births Living people Surrey Scorchers players English men's basketball players Basketball players from Greater London Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England London Lions (basketball) players Glasgow Rocks players Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Black British sportsmen British expatriate basketball people in France English expatriate sportspeople in France Saint-Étienne Basket players Nanterre 92 players {{UK-basketball-bio-stub