# Brussels Basketball

Brussels Basketball is a professional basketball club based in Neder-Over-Heembeek (Brussels), Belgium. The team plays in the BNXT League. Home games are played at the Sports Complex Neder-Over-Heembeek.

## History

The club was founded in 1957. In 1999 Excelsior merged with AERA Castor and renamed itself AERA Excelsior Brussel VZW. After 7 years in the 3e Nationale, the Belgian third division, Excelsior promoted to the 2e Nationale in 2009. In the first two years, Excelsior finished 4th and 5th and was defeated in the quarterfinals. In the 2011–12 season Excelsior reached the semifinals and in the 2012–13 season, it finished 10th while missing the Playoffs.
The club moved to the professional Scooore League, the first tier in Belgium, for the 2013–14 season. Excelsior received a C-licence, which allowed them to play with a lower budget in the league. The club also got a new main sponsor in Basic-Fit, and was renamed Basic-Fit Brussels.
During the 2016–17 season, Brussels participated in a European competition for the first time by entering the 2016–17 FIBA Europe Cup season. Brussels finished fourth and last in Group A, winning one out of six games. Along with this, the club finished in the third place in the Belgian League and reached the Finals for the first time in club history by beating Antwerp Giants in the semi-finals.
In July 2019, the club announced it changed its name to Phoenix Brussels. From December 2020 to March 2021, Phoenix played its home games in the Palais 12. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no people in attendance.
Since the 2021–22 season, Brussels plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged. On 17 June 2022 the club signed a sponsor agreement with Circus, leading to a name change; the club colours were also changed to red. The team also signed Belgian national team player Kevin Tumba.
In march 2023 Brussels announced that head coach Jaumin would be replaced by Serge Crèvecoeur for the 2023-2024 season.
In early 2023, Belgium adopted a new law prohibiting the promotion of gambling. Consequently, the club had to remove their sponsor "Circus" from their name during the summer of the same year.

## Arenas

Upon the club's establishment in 1957, the team played outdoors on the field of the King Baudoin/Boudewijn Stadium (then the Heysel/Heizel Stadium). The current home arena of Brussels is the Sports Complex Neder-Over-Heembeek, a municipal multi-purpose sports hall with retractable seating, accommodating approximately 1,000 people. Owned by the municipality rather than the club, this has historically led to scheduling conflicts, affecting the teams' training sessions.
Since 2017 the team regularly plays gala matches in Palais/Paleis 12. In the 2020–2021 season, the team made a temporary move to the venue for all games from December 2020 to April 2021.
The club recognized early the necessity of upgrading its infrastructure. In 2013, upon entering the first division, the president André De Kandelaer stated, "Our hall is not designed for the first division" and "If a serious project develops, it will certainly not be at Neder-Over-Heembeek". In 2017, a plan was unveiled for a 3,000-seat arena on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, but it failed to materialize. In 2021, a more ambitious proposal for a 4,000-seat arena at the same location was introduced, though this project did not progress either.

## Honours

* Belgian League
    Runners-up (1): 2016–17
* Belgian Third Division
    Champion (1): 2008-09

## Names

Due to sponsorships and other reasons, the name of the club has frequently changed:
* Excelsior Brussels (1999–2013)
* Basic-Fit Brussels Basketball (2013–2019)
* Phoenix Brussels Basketball (2019–2022)
* Circus Brussels Basketball (2022–2023)
* Brussels Basketball (2023–present)

## Season by season

| Season | Tier | League | Pos. | BNXT | W–L | Belgian Cup | European competitions | European competitions | European competitions |
| 2008–09 | 3 | 3$^e$ Nationale | 2nd | | | | | | |
| 2009–10 | 2 | 2$^e$ Nationale | 5th | | | | | | |
| 2010–11 | 2 | 2$^e$ Nationale | 5th | | | | | | |
| 2011–12 | 2 | 2$^e$ Nationale | 4th | | | | | | |
| 2012–13 | 2 | 2$^e$ Nationale | 10th | | | | | | |
| 2013–14 | 1 | Division I | 8th | | 8–28 | Round of 16 | | | |
| 2014–15 | 1 | Division I | 10th | | 10–18 | Round of 16 | | | |
| 2015–16 | 1 | Division I | 4th | | 21–16 | Round of 16 | | | |
| 2016–17 | 1 | Division I | 2nd | | 28–19 | Semifinalist | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 1–5 |
| 2017–18 | 1 | Division I | 8th | | 12–26 | Quarterfinalist | 3 Champions League | QR3 | 0–2 |
| 2017–18 | 1 | Division I | 8th | | 12–26 | Quarterfinalist | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 2–4 |
| 2018–19 | 1 | PBL | 3rd | | 23–17 | Semifinalist | | | |
| 2019–20 | 1 | PBL | 9th | | 6–11 | Quarterfinalist | 4 FIBA Europe Cup | RS | 2–4 |
| 2020–21 | 1 | PBL | 10th | | 4–22 | Play-in Round | | | |
| 2021–22 | 1 | BNXT | 9th | 16th | 9-19 | Quarterfinalist | | | |
| 2022–23 | 1 | BNXT | 10th | 16th | 9-19 | Quarterfinalist | | | |
| 2023-24 | 1 | BNXT | 6th | 14th | 17-15 | Quarterfinalist | | | |
| 2024-25 | 1 | BNXT | | | | Round of 16 | | | |

## Players
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Jared Ambrose | Yannick Desiron | Onyeka Joe Agu |
| PF | Nikola Djogo | Godwin Tshimanga | |
| SF | Tucker Richardson | Louis Hazard | Raijon Kelly |
| SG | Alexandre Libert | Terry Deroover | Mehdi Mbawa |
| PG | Jalen Finch | Douglas Ntesa | Junior Bonsenge |

### Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
* Criteria
* To appear in this section a player must have either:
* Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
* Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
* Played at least one official NBA match at any time.
* Lionel Bosco
* Aleksander Lichodzijewski
* Alexandre Libert
* Domien Loubry
* Guy Muya
* Éric Struelens
* Jonathan Tabu
* Kevin Tumba
* Jason Washburn
* Steve Ross
* Max Kouguère
* Sigfredo Casero-Ortiz
* Okko Järvi
* Augustas Pečiukevičius
* William Robeyns
* Pape Badji
* Dejan Kravić
* Thomas Massamba
* Dino Pita
* Ryan Richards
* Taylor Brown
* Julian Gamble
* Brandon Peterson
* Colt Ryan
* Brandon Ubel

## Head coaches

* Serge Crèvecoeur: 2008–2017, 2018–2020, 2023–present
* Laurent Monier: 2017–2018, 2020
* Ian Hanavan: 2020–2021
* Jean-Marc Jaumin: 2021–2023