Mayor and NBA unite to deliver lasting sports legacy for young Londoners

• Expansion of flagship London Coaches Programme to receive new £1m investment.
• NBA returns to London on January 18 for game between Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic.
• New Facilities Development Fund to improve and expand access to London’s community basketball courts.
• New ‘NBA Court Time’ project to offer affordable indoor sessions during winter months to keep Londoners active.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is investing almost £2 million to improve basketball facilities across the capital and create more opportunities for young people to get involved in the sport.  

The announcement comes ahead of London's O2 Arena hosting the regular-season NBA London Game 2026 presented by Tissot between the Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, 18 January, in what will be the first NBA game in the capital since the Washington Wizards' win over the New York Knicks in January 2019. 

The new 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, improving access while creating safe, attractive spaces for community play. This initiative will focus on 'weather proofing solutions' at priority locations and the refurbishment of 10 courts. City Hall are leading efforts to leverage additional funding to increase the total investment to £1 million.

The plans also include a £1 million expansion of the Mayor’s flagship coaching scheme with the NBA, ‘London Coaches Programmme’, to develop the next generation of basketball coaches. The initiative is upskilling, employing, and deploying young London-based basketball coaches aged 16-30. The initiative was launched in 2023 as a three year programme and has so far reached created over 500 new community coaches. The extension of the programme aims to reach a further 180 new trainees, providing direct employment or internship opportunities for 90 coaches, and is looking to reach over 50,000 young people over the next three years.

In addition, a new NBA Court Time programme will run from February to April this year thanks to investment from the Mayor, offering affordable indoor basketball sessions to keep Londoners active. 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.

To ensure the Court Time programme reaches those most in need, London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and its Young People's Action Group have worked closely with the NBA legacy team to help shape delivery and ensure the £1 sessions are accessible to hundreds of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This youth-led approach prioritises safety, inclusion and opportunity, with early action seeing VRU-funded Pupil Referral Units attend Jr. NBA clinics, opening up access to mentors through the NBA coaching programme as well as positive, structured activities that support wellbeing and help young Londoners build confidence, stay active and thrive.

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.

The Mayor announced the launch of his Basketball Taskforce in September 2024 following a meeting with NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum to grow the game in London. [1] The Mayor met Commissioner Adam Silver and the Deputy Commissioner Tatum again in London last year to discuss positive progress.  

The Mayor and his Taskforce have also supported the launch of a new Jr. NBA 3v3 tournament for schools across London. The tournament launched last year was a new collaboration between the NBA and London Marathon Events that saw pupils from 174 London secondary schools take part, with a team from every London borough represented in the pathway. A total of 31 per cent of participating schools were from the most disadvantaged areas and six months after the 2025 programme concluded, 15 participating secondary schools were surveyed to gauge its impact, and multiple schools had created new weekly basketball clubs. [2] 

Basketball sits behind only football as the second-most popular team sport for young people in England, with 1.15 million playing on a weekly basis, while its diverse reach has seen NBA fandom among UK adults grow by 24 per cent in the last three years alone. London is home to more than 500,000 active players across community, club, and school programmes. [3]

Since taking office in 2016, Sadiq has invested significantly in grassroots basketball and sport more widely through his successful £8.8m Sport Unites programme and, more recently, through the Go! London initiative, a five-year partnership between the Mayor, London Marathon Foundation, Sport England, London Marathon Events and London Sport. Since Sadiq launched Go! London in 2023, it has invested over £10 million in more than 200 grassroots sport and physical activity organisations, with total investment expected to surpass £22 million across the partnership. By the this year, it will have provided over 40,000 underserved young Londoners with opportunities to engage in activities like rugby, cycling and skating. [4] 

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Basketball continues to go from strength-to-strength in the capital and I want to use the NBA coming to our capital to create a meaningful legacy from the sport for Londoners.

“That is why I’m proud to be working alongside NBA and our partners to deliver this new investment to improve and expand access to London’s community courts - while providing free and affordable indoor sessions during winter months to keep Londoners active.

“Through my new Taskforce, I’m determined to help basketball grow even further, enabling more young people to access and enjoy the sport.

“London is the undisputed sporting capital of the world I look forward to continuing to work with the NBA to build a better and heathier London for everyone.”

George Aivazoglou, NBA Europe and Middle East Managing Director said: “We are proud to work alongside the Mayor to create opportunities for young people and communities across the capital to play basketball and learn the values of the game.

“Ahead of this weekend’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic at The 02, these initiatives reflect our shared commitment to inspiring the next generation of fans and players and come at a time when the momentum around basketball and the NBA in London and across the UK is at an all-time high.”

Andrew Clark, Head of Aquatics & Sport at GLL said: “Legacy is always at the core of what we do at GLL, and we are very excited about hosting this great project to expand the provision and grow participation in Basketball at our 'Better' Leisure Centres across the capital.

“We are committed to sustaining and growing sessions beyond the £1 offer in the Spring and we are looking forward to continuing to support Basketball at all levels through 2026 and beyond.”

Nick Bitel, CEO at London Marathon Group, said: “Grandstand events like the NBA London Game must leave a lasting legacy that inspires the next generation to take part in basketball.

“Since 1992, the London Marathon Foundation has invested £13 million in 189 basketball projects nationwide, alongside initiatives like Jr. NBA 3v3, to make the sport more accessible and inclusive.

“Regular access to courts gives children the chance to discover basketball earlier, build confidence, and progress from playground to competition.”

Basketball has taken over London this week to celebrate The NBA London Game 2026 presented by Tissot, with NBA branding across the capital. NBA House, a free, interactive fan event and immersive basketball experience, will take place at Magazine London and opens today (16 January) through to the game on Sunday.  

Fans at NBA House will be able to participate in basketball activities and competitions on an NBA half-court, attend panel sessions with NBA legends, purchase limited-edition and customized NBA merchandise, take photos with the Larry O’Brien Trophy, have the chance to win NBA-themed prizes, and more. [5] 

A series of basketball development programming will take place across this week, highlighted by the NBA, the Grizzlies and the Magic, in collaboration with Basketball England. This includes Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA and Her Time to Play (HTTP) youth clinics, coaching development programming and NBA Cares activities that will collectively reach more than more than 5,000 young people aged between 12-16 from across London.