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 (appro ...

team based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Ontario, with home games at

Canada Life Place Canada Life Place is a sports-entertainment centre, in London, Ontario, Canada – the largest such centre in Southwestern Ontario. Its previous names include John Labatt Centre and Budweiser Gardens. Opened as the John Labatt Centre in 2002, ...

. The team competes in the

Basketball Super League 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 (appro ...

History

The Lightning name was announced on August 12, 2011. The team was a charter member of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; ) was a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketball League teams joined with four new franchis ...

(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 six. On August 17, former

Albany Patroons The Albany Patroons are a professional basketball team that plays in The Basketball League (TBL). Previously, the team competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and in the United States Basketball League (USBL). The Patroons won ...

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 (PBL) after having been in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). They have one PBL championship an ...

head coach

Micheal Ray Richardson Michael Ray Richardson (born April 11, 1955), known as Micheal Ray Richardson, 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 dr ...

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 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 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. The Osh ...

head coach

Kyle Julius Kyle Nicholas 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), the Taiwanese ...

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 in the Regional Municipality of Niagara, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. From 2015 to 2018, they were members of the Natio ...

head coach,

Keith Vassell Keith Christophe Vassell (born 28 July 1971) is a Canadian-Icelandic basketball coach and a former member of the Canadian national basketball team. He played seven seasons in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla, winning the national championship in ...

. 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,

is a sports-entertainment centre, in

London, Ontario London 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 (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, 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 ...

of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

Personnel

Season-by-season record

References

External links

* {{Ontario Sports National Basketball League of Canada teams Sports clubs and teams in London, Ontario Basketball teams in Ontario Basketball teams established in 2011 2011 establishments in Ontario Basketball Super League (North America) teams