LONDON LIONS are blazing a trail at home and in Europe during what is already shaping up to be a historic season at Copper Box Arena.

Vince McAuley's ball club have lost just once domestically so far this campaign, but it is in Europe that they are really making people sit up and take notice.

A stunning 5-1 record in the Fiba Europe Cup group stage saw the Lions advance to the round of 16 – an achievement on the continent that no other British team has even come close to.

Speaking to SunSport ahead of their first round of 16 group stage clash against Bahcesehir Koleji on Wednesday, McAuley doesn't play down the feat: "It’s huge for us.

"Last year should have been our first go at it, but Covid held us back and we couldn’t really get going.

"I think that has allowed us time to add additional personnel behind the scenes, the kind of quality players we want to recruit and the ideas and plans for how we want to play in Europe.

"Because traditionally no British teams have won in Europe, no British teams are respected in Europe for the type of game, because the culture of basketball is so different."

One key change this season has been the addition of general manager Brett Burman.

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The American arrived in London with no prior experience of basketball in Europe, but has an impressive CV in his homeland – having most recently worked as a scout for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA, after a stint as an assistant coach for their G-League affiliate.

With him came a plethora of talent from the US, including NBA veterans Julian Washburn and Marquis Teague, in addition to exciting prospects like Isaiah Reese and Kylor Kelley.

On how he built such a talented roster, Burman tells SunSport: "I think at the end of the day, everyone tries to overthink the game of basketball a little bit.

"A guy can be in one league and be the man, he has the ball in his hands 80 per cent of the game, but if you reduce his role to a 20 per cent, where does he fit in? And a lot of the guys on this team were on the flipside, they weren’t given an opportunity at their other places to start, to be the man, to be on high minutes.

"So it was just about identifying guys that could come in and, if given the opportunity to play a specific role to the style of play that Vince and I had addressed before the start of the season that we wanted to make this team, who could fit into those pieces?

"I think there’s a ton of people who could come in and if you just take them out of what their current role is, how they’ve been playing for four years, whether it’s in the United States, whether it’s in France, whether it’s in Germany, whether it’s in Belgium – a lot of the time a change of scenery and a new actual role, from a leadership standpoint and from a minutes, a volume, production – it goes night and day – it goes a long way.

"So long story short, it was about finding guys that were under-utilised at their previous places and just trying to bring out a heightened role and a heightened opportunity to play."

On what attracted him to join the Lions, talented American guard Reese, 24, tells SunSport: "I would say the GM, Brett, being from the NBA, G-League, all that.

"And being in London, I mean it’s hard, you grow up on the other side and some of the places you think of overseas, London’s one of them, so when you hear that you think ‘yeah, why not?’"

NBA veteran and defensive linchpin Washburn, 29, echoes a similar sentiment: "I played for the GM back in Memphis. I played for the GM, I have a really good relationship with him.

"We talked about it… I knew London is a great city so it was a pretty easy decision for me."

British team captain Justin Robinson, who has seen it all since his 2017 arrival in London, adds: "I think he’s done a good job in selecting the right pieces. Obviously he knew these guys prior to coming here.

"Of course he must have been able to vouch for these guys, to have enough confidence in bringing them over to London Lions and competing in Europe."

Being in London hasn't been a chore for Burman's American imports, as Reese admits: "In this business it’s going to come down to money, of course – but after that it’s going to be the location, it’s perfect. A lot of guys want to come and check this out."

Teague, who has played with the likes of Anthony Davis and Derrick Rose during his career, adds: "It’s been really easy, actually, transitioning, they’ve made it really simple for us. We’ve pretty much only got to worry about playing ball – everything else, life, the lifestyle, it’s been pretty amazing."

Burman believes that the Lions won't just have to rely on stars from overseas, however, championing the talent that the UK can offer: "The game is global, we talk about this all the time. You walk down the streets of London and there’s young kids who are 6ft 7in, 6ft 8in and you’re just like ‘man, if you can get these guys on a basketball court,’ you can tell the athleticism and skill is there.

"There’s just so much talent, and there’s talent here in the UK that the more you can bring in, the more competitors, better players in the league – everybody wins, everybody gets better."

To make London basketball synonymous with sport in the capital of one of the best cities in the world

On his vision for the future, inimitable McAuley adds: "Over the ten years as you’re talking about, on the floor we want to be a team that people fear, because of not just what we do on the floor, but then you flip it to what my vision has always been, our vision together of what we want, off the floor – to make London basketball synonymous with sport in the capital of one of the best cities in the world.

"That’s got to come with how we mesh with the community, how we work with the young, up and coming pathway youngsters – how we work with people in general in the community."

Burman adds: "Let’s get these guys all interested, let’s get them engaged, let’s get them excited about what basketball in the UK could be and it’s a situation where we’re not going away.

I’m pretty surprised that more guys don’t come here

"We’re only starting and we’re making this continue to elevate, and get everybody just excited about the sport in itself."

One man that certainly believes in what London can be as a basketball city is Washburn, as he tells SunSport: "I think London has a lot of potential, and honestly I’m pretty surprised that more guys don’t come here, knowing that London is a pretty good city.

"London has a lot of guys that are super athletic, hopefully this team, we can do something special and win Fiba Cup and keep bringing more and more kids to London as far as basketball is concerned."

Can the Lions take the next step this season, and reach the final eight in Europe? Robinson says: "That would definitely be the highest accomplishment (of my career).

"Winning any competition is a huge feat, but winning something like that, playing against high level European teams, we'll have to go through the fire, our next group is really tough."

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