“I’ve been involved for 30 years now and it’s definitely the most competitive it’s been, pretty much in all those 30 years,” Newcastle Eagles owner Paul Blake said.

Excitement is building as British men’s top-flight basketball prepares for a new season – with champions London Lions gearing up for a prestigious friendly against NBA opposition in Portland Trail Blazers next month.

Before that, though, the third season of the men’s Super League Basketball – launched in 2024 after the British Basketball League folded – begins on Friday, as the Lions head to Bristol Flyers.

Last season, the Lions completed a domestic quadruple by winning the SLB Championship, SLB Playoffs, SLB Cup and SLB Trophy – and will be amining for more success when the campaign concludes in May.

This season, there will be 10 teams – up from nine – following the addition of Liverpool Basketball.

SLBW, the women’s competition, starts on Saturday, 3 October.

For many SLB clubs, there is optimism going into the new campaign – given some fine recent results and performances.

Manchester Basketball became the first British team to win a qualifying round match in Fiba’s Basketball Champions League by beating German side Wurzburg Baskets earlier this week.

Bristol Flyers, meanwhile, will again compete in the European North Basketball League (ENBL), a competition in which Manchester finished runners-up last season.

The Lions are back in the EuroCup for a second straight season, EuroLeague’s second-tier European club basketball competition – and are in good spirits after beating EuroLeague outfit Paris Basketball in pre-season earlier this month.

“The league is just getting more and more competitive all the time, so we know we’ll be in for a fight again this season,” Eagles owner Blake, who is also an SLB director, told BBC Sport.

“The quality of players that are now in the league across the teams top to bottom is, for me, pretty much the highest level it’s been. It’s extremely competitive.”

The Lions want to become one of world basketball’s most recognisable clubs.

On 12 October, they will become the first British side to play an NBA team, when they face a friendly in the USA against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I’ve wanted to be in the NBA since I was six years old. This is the closest I’ve ever been,” Lions CEO Lenz Balan told BBC Sport.

“It’s a really important signal in the basketball world, in the sporting world. This is the ambition. We are absolutely trying to be one of the best clubs in the world.”

As well as looking to defend a domestic quadruple, the Lions will hope to improve on last season’s EuroCup campaign.

While they did beat eventual runners-up Besiktas Gain in the group stage, they ultimately finished eighth out of 10 teams.

Balan is hopeful that their summer acquisitions, including the loan arrival of 2025-26 EuroLeague winner Keenan Evans, will help the Lions compete in Europe.

“We have ambitions to definitely outperform last year,” added Balan.

“It’s going to be tough, but these are some of the best players in the world – and I think most people in London and the UK recognise the level of competition that they’re playing.

“We’re just really focused on executing that vision, getting better and if we keep doing that, I think we’re going to get some good results.”

Just 15 days after the SLB season tips off, SLBW will do the same.

Cardiff Met Archers host B Braun Sheffield Hatters, the defending championship and play-off winners, in the opening match on Saturday, 3 October.

At Cardiff, four players are salaried while also studying masters degrees at the university.

The rest of the team are made up of players on scholarships, postgraduate and undergraduate students and others that are balancing a career in basketball with full-time work.

“I think there’s an opportunity to build something that people genuinely want to watch and follow,” Archers head coach Stef Collins, a member of Great Britain’s 2012 Olympic squad, told BBC Sport.

“Women’s basketball has shown what is possible internationally, particularly with the growth we’re seeing in leagues like the WNBA, NCAA College Basketball.”

Collins wants SLBW to build on the recent Women’s World Cup in Berlin, at which the United States earned a fifth successive title, beating France in the final.

“It was the most-attended World Cup in the modern era with over 230,000 fans in attendance,” she said.

“For me, it’s also about telling the stories of the players. They’re not just basketball players – they’re students, they’re professionals, they’re international athletes, they’re role models. If we can showcase that properly, I think there’s an exciting future for the Super league.”

The WNBA, the independent women’s equivalent of North America’s NBA, has been among the pioneers in women’s sports leagues across the globe.

In 2025, WNBA clips gained more than one billion views on Instagram, making it the most-followed women’s sports league on that platform, which Collins feels can help SLBW on its path for development.

“The WNBA is a really good example of what happens when you give women’s basketball a platform and make the players and their stories visible,” she said.

“But I think there’s also a lesson beyond the basketball itself. Women’s sport has shown that fans want to connect with the athletes, their personalities and their stories.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to market women’s basketball differently and allow our players to be themselves.”