# 2020–21 British Basketball League season

The 2020–21 BBL season was the 34th season of the British Basketball League, the top British professional basketball league, since its establishment in 1987. The season featured 11 teams from across England and Scotland.

## Teams
### Arenas and locations

| Team | Location | Arena | Capacity |
| Bristol Flyers | Bristol | SGS WISE Arena | 750 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | Ellesmere Port | Cheshire Oaks Arena | 1,400 |
| Glasgow Rocks | Glasgow | Emirates Arena | 6,500 |
| Leicester Riders | Leicester | Morningside Arena | 2,400 |
| London Lions | London | Copper Box | 6,000 |
| Manchester Giants | Manchester | National Basketball Centre | 2,000 |
| Newcastle Eagles | Newcastle upon Tyne | Eagles Community Arena | 3,000 |
| Plymouth Raiders | Plymouth | Plymouth Pavilions | 1,500 |
| Sheffield Sharks | Sheffield | Ponds Forge | 1,000 |
| Surrey Scorchers | Guildford | Surrey Sports Park | 1,000 |
| Worcester Wolves | Worcester | University of Worcester Arena | 2,000 |

### Personnel and sponsorship

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Main jersey sponsor |
| Bristol Flyers | Andreas Kapoulas | Daniel Edozie | XLedger |
| Cheshire Phoenix | Ben Thomas | Jalen Hayes | Hillyer McKeown |
| Glasgow Rocks | Gareth Murray | Jonny Bunyan | Carling |
| Leicester Riders | Rob Paternostro | Darien Nelson-Henry | Jelson Homes |
| London Lions | Vince Macaulay | Joe Ikhinmwin | |
| Manchester Giants | Lloyd Gardner | Jack Hudson | |
| Newcastle Eagles | Ian MacLeod | Rahmon Fletcher | GiveToLocal |
| Plymouth Raiders | Paul James | Ashley Hamilton | MLA College |
| Sheffield Sharks | Atiba Lyons | Mike Tuck | B.Braun |
| Surrey Scorchers | Creon Raftopoulos | Tayo Ogedengbe | Gidden Place |
| Worcester Wolves | Matthew Newby | Maarten Bouwknecht | University of Worcester |

### Coaching changes

| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| Glasgow Rocks | Vincent Lavandier | Mutual consent | 1 July 2020 | Pre-season | Gareth Murray | 16 July 2020 |
| Manchester Giants | Danny Byrne | Left | 2 March 2021 | 9th (6-11) | Lloyd Gardner | 15 March 2021 |

## BBL Cup
### Qualification Stage

Group 1
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Plymouth Raiders | 6 | 5 | 1 | 471 | 384 | +87 | 10 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Surrey Scorchers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 336 | 340 | −4 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Bristol Flyers | 6 | 2 | 4 | 269 | 309 | −40 | 4 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Worcester Wolves | 6 | 2 | 4 | 410 | 453 | −43 | 4 | |
Group 2
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Manchester Giants | 4 | 3 | 1 | 372 | 297 | +75 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Glasgow Rocks | 4 | 3 | 1 | 320 | 304 | +16 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Cheshire Phoenix | 4 | 0 | 4 | 292 | 383 | −91 | 0 | |
Group 3
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Newcastle Eagles | 6 | 4 | 2 | 539 | 526 | +13 | 8 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Leicester Riders | 6 | 3 | 3 | 516 | 509 | +7 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | London Lions | 6 | 3 | 3 | 501 | 497 | +4 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Sheffield Sharks | 6 | 2 | 4 | 458 | 482 | −24 | 4 | |

### Semi-finals
#### Notes

* ^ A Due to a number of players having to self-isolate due to COVID-19, Manchester Giants were unable to fulfil the fixture against London Lions. London Lions were given an automatic bye to the final.

### Final
## BBL Championship

The BBL Championship returned to the three-game series format used prior to the 2019–20 season, for a 30-game regular season. There were 21 Rounds between 3 December 2020 and 30 April 2021.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Leicester Riders (C) | 30 | 24 | 6 | 2580 | 2303 | +277 | 48 | Playoffs |
| 2 | London Lions | 30 | 23 | 7 | 2702 | 2441 | +261 | 46 | Playoffs |
| 3 | Plymouth Raiders | 30 | 21 | 9 | 2511 | 2307 | +204 | 42 | Playoffs |
| 4 | Newcastle Eagles | 30 | 18 | 12 | 2576 | 2543 | +33 | 36 | Playoffs |
| 5 | Sheffield Sharks | 30 | 15 | 15 | 2403 | 2338 | +65 | 30 | Playoffs |
| 6 | Worcester Wolves | 30 | 14 | 16 | 2349 | 2456 | −107 | 28 | Playoffs |
| 7 | Cheshire Phoenix | 30 | 14 | 16 | 2357 | 2407 | −50 | 28 | Playoffs |
| 8 | Bristol Flyers | 30 | 12 | 18 | 2346 | 2373 | −27 | 24 | Playoffs |
| 9 | Surrey Scorchers | 30 | 10 | 20 | 2446 | 2615 | −169 | 20 | |
| 10 | Manchester Giants | 30 | 10 | 20 | 2514 | 2601 | −87 | 20 | |
| 11 | Glasgow Rocks | 30 | 4 | 26 | 2214 | 2614 | −400 | 8 | |

### Ladder progression

* Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top eight.
* Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
* Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Bristol Flyers | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | 6 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Glasgow Rocks | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Leicester Riders | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| London Lions | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Manchester Giants | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Newcastle Eagles | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Plymouth Raiders | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Sheffield Sharks | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Surrey Scorchers | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Worcester Wolves | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 |

## BBL Trophy

The BBL Trophy retained the same, 16-team bracket format as introduced for the 2018–19 season. The eleven BBL teams were joined in the first round draw by five invited teams; Solent Kestrels, Derby Trailblazers, Thames Valley Cavaliers, Hemel Storm and Reading Rockets, all from the English Basketball League.

### First round
#### Notes

* ^ A Glasgow Rocks' match against Reading Rockets was cancelled after Reading were unable to fulfil the tie due to travel-related Covid-19 concerns. Glasgow were awarded a bye to the next stage of the competition.

### Final
## Playoffs

After changes were made to the 2020–21 Championship structure, the Playoffs returned to the two-legged aggregate series format used prior to the 2019–20 season.

### Final
#### (2) London Lions vs. (4) Newcastle Eagles
## Awards
### 2020–21 BBL Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Rahmon Fletcher | Newcastle Eagles |
| SG | Geno Crandall | Leicester Riders |
| SF | Dirk Williams | London Lions |
| PF | DeAndre Liggins | London Lions |
| C | Darien Nelson-Henry | Leicester Riders |
Source: 2020–21 Molten BBL Team of the Year

### 2020–21 BBL All-British Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Conner Washington | Leicester Riders |
| SG | Justin Robinson | London Lions |
| SF | Ashley Hamilton | Plymouth Raiders |
| PF | Jordan Williams | Worcester Wolves |
| C | David Ulph | Manchester Giants |
Source: 2020–21 BBL All-British Team of the Year

### 2020–21 BBL Defensive Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Cortez Edwards | Newcastle Eagles |
| SG | DeAndre Liggins | London Lions |
| SF | Jamell Anderson | Leicester Riders |
| PF | William Lee | Leicester Riders |
| C | Prince Ibeh | Plymouth Raiders |
Source: 2020–21 BBL Defensive Team of the Year
* Most Valuable Player: Geno Crandall (Leicester Riders)
* Play-off Final MVP: Cortez Edwards (Newcastle Eagles)
* Coach of the Year: Rob Paternostro (Leicester Riders)

## British clubs in European competitions

| Team | Competition | Progress |
| London Lions | Champions League | First qualifying round |
| London Lions | FIBA Europe Cup | Regular season |
*Note: FIBA has withdrawn the London Lions from the FIBA Europe Cup Regular-season due to COVID-19 disruptions. All games of the London Lions will be forfeited.