In the second season of Tesonet’s ownership, London Lions completed the first quadruple in franchise history.
Two years after the club needed rescuing, they won everything. The league, the Trophy, the Cup, and the Play-offs. Under a first-year head coach, with a defensive identity no one else in the league could match, London returned to the top of British basketball with room still to grow.
Quadruple
The 2025/26 London Lions are now the seventh team to win every available trophy in a top-flight British basketball season.
| Season | Team |
|---|---|
| 2025/26 | London Lions |
| 2014/15 | Newcastle Eagles |
| 2011/12 | Newcastle Eagles |
| 2005/06 | Newcastle Eagles |
| 2001/02 | Chester Jets (Cheshire Phoenix) |
| 1991/92 | Kingston (Guildford Kings) |
| 1989/90 | Kingston (Guildford Kings) |
Only Kingston, Chester, Newcastle and now London have done it.
Won on Defence
London had stars and shot-making. But the season was won on defence.
| Team | Defensive Rating |
|---|---|
| London Lions | 102.3 |
| Bristol Flyers | 112.5 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | 113.6 |
| Sheffield Sharks | 114.1 |
| Manchester Basketball | 114.7 |
| Newcastle Eagles | 115.8 |
| Leicester Riders | 117.1 |
| Surrey 89ers | 119.4 |
| Caledonia Gladiators | 122.3 |
The gap between London and the league’s next-best defence was just over 10 points per 100 possessions.
On 19 December, London were down three at half-time at home to Manchester. Then Manchester got hot. They made jump shots, found seams in the defence and turned loose balls into open dunks. For 10 minutes, London looked human. Manchester scored 33 points and handed them their first home loss of the SLB season.
It was the only quarter all season London conceded more than 30 points. Every other team had at least four such quarters.
| Team | Quarters Conceding Over 30 |
|---|---|
| London Lions | 1 |
| Sheffield Sharks | 4 |
| Bristol Flyers | 6 |
| Leicester Riders | 6 |
| Caledonia Gladiators | 10 |
| Surrey 89ers | 10 |
| Manchester Basketball | 13 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | 14 |
| Newcastle Eagles | 17 |
London cut off passing lanes, swarmed ball handlers, and used their length to make ordinary possessions feel uncomfortable. When they turned it on, they could win games on the defensive end alone.
They held opponents under 10 points in a quarter eight times. Bristol were next with three. Four teams did not do it once.
Lithuanian Connection
Last season was about keeping London moving after the collapse of the previous ownership. This season was when Tesonet’s project started to take shape.
London returned to EuroCup and appointed Tautvydas Sabonis, who arrived from Žalgiris Kaunas after five years rising through the coaching staff and working with their EuroLeague team.
Tesonet are minority shareholders in Žalgiris, a club built around European competition, domestic expectation and a deep basketball culture. London are not Žalgiris, and British basketball is not Lithuanian basketball, but the Lions are being run by people who know what the next level looks like.
EuroCup Disappointment
London’s return to EuroCup was frustrating, but their campaign was rarely settled. Of the eight players who averaged at least 20 minutes when they played, only three appeared in every EuroCup game.
| Player | Minutes Per Game Played | % EuroCup Games Played |
|---|---|---|
| Kam McGusty | 29.5 | 55.6% |
| Shavar Reynolds Jr | 27.6 | 50.0% |
| Johnathan Williams | 27.3 | 72.2% |
| Joel Scott | 26.3 | 44.4% |
| Tarik Phillip | 26.0 | 100.0% |
| Chaundee Brown Jr | 25.0 | 27.8% |
| Deane Williams | 23.2 | 100.0% |
| Aaryn Rai | 20.7 | 100.0% |
Kam McGusty, Shavar Reynolds Jr and Joel Scott were supposed to be part of London’s top-end EuroCup talent, but all three only played around half the group-stage campaign.
Even with that disruption, London were involved in more one-point group-stage games than anyone else in the competition, but went 1–4 in them.
| Team | One-Point Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| London Lions | 5 | 1-4 |
| Dolomiti Energia Trento | 3 | 3-0 |
| Ratiopharm Ulm | 2 | 2-0 |
| Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens | 2 | 1-1 |
| U-BT Cluj-Napoca | 2 | 1-1 |
In the tightest EuroCup games, they did not always have enough late-clock shot creation to turn close games into wins. A first-year head coach, injuries to important players and the randomness of one-possession games all help explain it. They do not make it feel much better.
London did not make it out of the group stage, but they were close enough to look like they belonged. Better health, more experience and a little more late-game execution could be enough to take them through.
How a Dynasty Starts
The quadruple makes this season historic on its own. London have never done this before, and only a small number of teams in top-flight British basketball ever have.
But this season also felt like the start of Tesonet’s version of the club. London returned to EuroCup, appointed a head coach with Žalgiris behind him, built the best defence in the league, and won every domestic trophy available.
They no longer need to prove they can win in Britain. They just won everything. The question now is whether this becomes repeatable: whether the defensive standard holds, whether the European lessons carry over, and whether better health and more late-game creation can push them further in EuroCup.
This season already has its place. What comes next will decide whether it was one historic year or the beginning of something bigger.
