Basketball in London to get funding boost from Mayor and NBA
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced a funding drive of nearly £2 million to improve basketball facilities and get more young people involved in the sport.
The announcement came before the NBA's 2026 London Game on Sunday, 18 January between the Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies, the first regular-season NBA game in the capital since 2019.
Hosted at the O2 Arena, Ja Morant's Grizzlies routed the Magic 126-109 in front of a sell-out audience.
Capitalising on the inspired thousands in attendance, the investment will see a new Facilities Development Fund established by City Hall that will provide an initial £500,000 to refurbish and upgrade basketball courts across the city - the initiative will focus on 'weather proofing solutions' at priority locations and the refurbishment of 10 courts.
City Hall is also trying to increase that total investment to £1 million.
Additionally, the London Coaches Program - run in partnership by Basketball England, the NBA and the Mayor's Office to train up 500 community coaches aged 16-30 - is set to receive a £1 million expansion, meaning training for a further 180 candidate coaches, as well as getting 90 qualified coaches into employment or internship opportunities.
Lastly, from February to April this year affordable indoor basketball sessions will run under the NBA Court Time Programme.
The £1-to-play indoor basketball sessions will initially be on offer across six GLL (Greenwich Leisure Ltd) leisure centres. The initiative, which will be delivered in collaboration with the London Coaches Program, will target youth, juniors and adult participants, while also offering women-only sessions.
In September 2024, following a meeting with NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum to grow the game in London, the Mayor announced the launch of his Basketball Taskforce, while in September 2025 a £10million investment into the recreational game was announced as part of a ground-breaking collaboration between the Government and NBA.
A new report, ‘State of Play’, commissioned by the Mayor’s Basketball Taskforce has identified a number of key recommendations for growing and harnessing basketball development in the capital. The Mayor's Legacy commitments respond directly to the report recommendations.
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