A player’s league – what Koufos and Kiki think of British basketball
Kosta Koufos and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan open up about their experience so far with the London Lions
Increased investment in British basketball is creating better content and leading to greater interest – this is awesome news for 777 Partners, which acquired 45% of the men’s British Basketball League (MBBL) in December 2021, but what does it mean for players?
At the Cup Finals in early 2022, one player in particular was excited about what the influx of cash might mean to his personal bank balance.
For some this season – mainly those on the London Lions, which 777 previously acquired in August 2020 – an increase in pay is exactly what it meant. The team’s bigger budget is landing better talent and leading to success on the court.
More money, more problems?
Kosta Koufos was a big name signing for the men’s team. Alongside Sam Dekker and Miye Oni, the Lions have three players with experience in the men’s NBA (MNBA).
The latter are still in their prime, and Dekker is playing well enough that he might warrant attention from scouts in the USA.
Koufos is 33 years old. He still has many good basketball years ahead of him, but garnering huge contracts in the USA might not be in his future.
He said “I was fortunate enough to play almost 700 games in the NBA. The BBL has some resemblance to that – it’s very athletic, there’s a lot of talent and it’s up and coming.”
It’s good that Koufos has bought in. Over 10 seasons with the Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings, he earned $47.5 million, according to Basketball Reference, and earned as much as $8.7m as recently as 2018-19.
He won’t be getting that this year. A rough salary for a player in the MBBL is apparently just under £30,000, not far off the average wage for standard full time employees in the UK, which is £33,000.
Information about MNBA contracts is widely reported, partly because they need to fit under different tiers of a tight salary cap. With no salary cap in the MBBL, it’s tough to figure out who earns what for each team – if it even matters – but one of the most well-informed basketball journalists in the country, Mark Woods, reported that one player on the Lions earns more than an entire opposing franchise.
Further investigation reveals that a second Lions player is not far off the first player’s figure.
These signings, and other talents such as a new Chief Medical Officer Dr Amir Pakravan, the women’s General Manager Vanja Cernivec – a former Chicago Bulls scout – highlights the talent the franchise is hoping to attract.
Unfortunately, that means it’s more competitive to earn a spot. Devon van Oostrum was one of the better defensive guards on the men’s roster early this year, but London added Oni, and upgraded the point guard position to EuroLeague veteran Jordan Taylor – both great moves, but van Oostrum was the sacrifice. He is now playing for EuroCup team BK Patrioti Levice in Slovakia.
The women’s team is undefeated in domestic competition – a run that spans back to last season’s perfect 34-0 sweep of silverware – and put together a strong enough EuroCup record to compete for a first-round playoffs spot this season. There have been rumours of adding further international talent to the group that includes British Olympian Azania Stewart and one of EuroCup’s all time leading scorers Katsiaryna Snytsina.
“Raffle tickets and rinsing junior players won’t cut it.”
– Hannah Shaw, Sheffield Hatters
But seeing a talent such as Mikiah Herbert Harrigan – known as Kiki to friends and fans – in the WBBL might have surprised some. She was the MVP of the SEC in college when she scored 1,000 points and blocked 200 shots, was teammates with Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) champion and MVP A’ja Wilson, and after being selected sixth in the draft, Kiki is still considered a top prospect by many US-based teams.
Kiki has her reasons for joining the WBBL, and said: “Having roots here, having a British passport, it’s actually the first time I’ve come to the UK.”
She took time out for the past two WNBA seasons and gave birth to her son in 2021, but Kiki is on top form for the Lions. “I feel pretty good. For me, seeing the smile on his face every day – that’s amazing.
“The past two years have been kind of tough after having a baby. I personally didn’t feel like my body was ready to go out there and play, so I was coming to London at the perfect time for the overseas season, but I feel like I’ll definitely be back in the WNBA.”
Lions fans shouldn’t panic at that last statement. WNBA seasons run in the summer months, and players regularly head overseas in the winter months. The WNBA is attempting to reduce the amount of players returning to the USA late, but many players need the income from playing in Europe.
Kiki could return to London next season, and play in the WNBA in the summer of 2023.
Changing roles
For the likes of Dekker, Oni and Koufos, the MNBA and the MBBL calendars coincide, so if the USA comes calling, they might fancy another shot at big money, even if they won’t be in a starring role.
In British basketball, the top stars deserve the extra money. Koufos might have averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes of play during his MNBA career, but his journeyman role was to be a dependable rebounder off the bench.
In the MBBL Championship, Koufos is scoring 11 points, with 10 rebounds and 1 block per game – good enough to be the BBL’s Player of the Month – and the value to his teammates is much more than that.
Long-time British basketball fan and former Newcastle Eagles coaching staff Dave Forrester recently praised what the Lions center has done this season: “There’s a serenity with which he plays the game… The size and the mobility he’s playing with and his finishing is an unanswerable problem for nearly every team in the league.”
He also anchors the best defence in the league – the Lions are nearly 4 points better than their nearest competitor in Net Rating, according to BBLMaths. Even when he’s on the bench, Koufos breaks down rule differences between leagues so his teammates can stay on top of what is happening on court.
Koufos is worth whatever the Lions are paying him on the court, and off it, the star power of an MNBA talent is helping London attract new fans – the Lions have sold out multiple games for the first time since the franchise moved there in 2013.
For MBBL players outside London, a payrise is probably overdue – especially when you consider the spike in engagement this season.
Signing top stars for way above the average wage is being noticed by talented young players. Take Jelani Watson-Gayle of the Bristol Flyers. The Brit travelled to the USA to play high school and college basketball when he was 16.
He played in NCAA Division II for five years, and finished his time there with Fresno Pacific University. The 23-year-old had options to play in multiple locations, but signing his first professional contract in his home country was personal.
He said: “I wanted to play in front of family and friends, and make a name for myself in England again – I feel a lot of people didn’t know me due to leaving the country. The investment in the London Lions is good for the league, it definitely makes the British Basketball League more attractive.”
777 Partners acquisition didn’t include the WBBL, but players from other teams are paying attention to the Lions, which is owned by the investment firm. Hannah Shaw is a British national team veteran who is currently playing for the Sheffield Hatters. She said: “I think the influx of cash is great for the league… hopefully it pushes other clubs to find proper investment. If clubs want to compete, they need to start professionalising. Raffle tickets and rinsing junior players won’t cut it.”
Styles clash
Entering 2023, London sat comfortably on top of the MBBL Championship and had only picked up two losses.
One of these came after a loss in Gran Canaria – they lost to the Sheffield Sharks two days later after flying back from Spain.
The following week, they lost to Buducnost Voli Podgorica at home in EuroCup, then drove along the M4 to be beaten by the Bristol Flyers.
Stylistically, the MBBL is often considered similar to the men’s NBA – built around two or three top individuals who work in isolation or pick and roll – whereas the top tiers of European basketball are systems that enhance the combined skill of the players operating within.
“It’s a different dynamic in Europe,” said Koufos, who has also played on the Greece national team, and at EuroLeague level.
“There’s a lot of talented players in Europe but they are more skill related and with a skilled mindset. I’m not saying there’s not a lot of skilled players in the BBL, but in Europe you can pack the paint more, so it’s not as open and you need to rely more on a skill set than athletic ability.”
This difference between the two leagues is not lost on Kiki.
She said: “It’s tough going from a team that you know you could blow out by 30, then going to a team where it’s head to head, play by play, but we’ve done a good job adjusting to that.”
After starring for legendary coach and Hall of Fame player Dawn Staley at South Carolina in college, she joined the Minnesota Lynx – and four-time championship winning head coach Cheryl Reeve – then played for the league’s most successful franchise Seattle Storm alongside one of the game’s most winning players in Sue Bird.
Kiki is bringing that experience to London: “I’ve learned a lot, especially for a leadership role – from A’ja, Sylvia and Sue, about how they approach the game. The way they got ready for practice, they would approach it the same way every day. They all have routines to get themselves set for practice and games – it’s just little stuff like that.
“I feel like I’ve brought a good amount of it here. I’m just trying to lead our team in EuroCup and in the WBBL. I’m trying to be there every night and cheer on my teammates when they’re on the court.”
Despite being unbeaten for nearly two years, WBBL teams are not backing down from the Lions. Hannah Shaw said: “It’s going to be hard for teams to compete at the beginning, and obviously huge blowouts suck… It’s tough to go into a game against them, but if you’re scared to play certain teams, why even bother showing up?”
On the men’s side, the Bristol Flyers are one of the few teams to have taken a win against London this year, and Watson-Gayle welcomed the challenge of playing against arguably better talent. He said: “As a basketball player, you want to play against the best. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Playing good teams with high level talent increases the importance of details, discipline and focus. You have a fine margin of error against those kinds of teams, so you have to be fully focused and locked in for 40 minutes.”
You need to stay focused for 40 minutes because the Lions have a mix of MNBA/WNBA or EuroLeague talent in the starting line-up. The bench comprises players who would be considered starters in the MBBL/WBBL days of old.
“I feel like it’s an untapped market for basketball.”
– Kosta Koufos
The likes of Koufos, Dekker, Oni, Ovie Soko, Luke Nelson, Vojtěch Hruban, Tomislav Zubčić, Aaron Best and Jordan Taylor take up most of the minutes, but they haven’t played every game. Head coach Ryan Schmidt will put others in if a skill is needed, but the nine players listed average more than 21 minutes per game in EuroCup. Seven of them – Taylor and Oni are recent additions – have played in at least seven of the nine overseas games at time of writing, and Josh Sharma averages around 16 minutes across both competitions.
Other players get extra run in MBBL Championship action. Kareem Queeley’s minutes jump from 9 to 16 before he went down with an injury, Mo Soluade’s increase from 11 minutes to 17, and Josh Ward-Hibbert’s playing time leaps from 3 minutes to 14 per game. And they are all playing more games.
That’s not to say domestic fans are being cheated out of seeing the top talent. At least one of the elite players suits up for most games. But London has more games to manage this season. They are expected to go further in domestic Play-offs, Trophy and Cup competitions than others in the MBBL, plus EuroCup games.
The ambitions for Lions, and other teams around the British Basketball Leagues are high, and the best part of having these top flight talents on British shores is that they get what is happening here.
Koufos said: “It’s a foundation setter. We understand that London is a huge market, I feel like it’s an untapped market for basketball. I feel like this is the first step in a direction to growing the brand, especially in London.
“The BBL is up and coming, we also play in EuroCup, which is a great league. The main focus for us is to establish our foundation by winning games, especially in EuroCup, and to see where it takes us. I see a bright future.”
*An amend was made to this article on 18 January 2023. It originally said that the London Lions won their game against Gran Canaria – this was incorrect.
What a high-level article man! Great work!