# 2021–22 British Basketball League season

The 2021–22 BBL season was the 35th season of the British Basketball League, the top British professional basketball league, since its establishment in 1987. The season featured 10 teams from across England and Scotland.

## Teams
### Arenas and locations

| Team | Location | Arena | Capacity |
| Bristol Flyers | Bristol | SGS College Arena | 750 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | Ellesmere Port | Cheshire Oaks Arena | 1,400 |
| Glasgow Rocks | Glasgow | Emirates Arena | 1,650 |
| Leicester Riders | Leicester | Morningside Arena | 2,400 |
| London Lions | London | Copper Box Arena | 6,000 |
| Manchester Giants | Manchester | National Basketball Centre | 2,000 |
| Newcastle Eagles | Newcastle upon Tyne | Vertu Motors Arena | 3,000 |
| Plymouth City Patriots | Plymouth | Plymouth Pavilions | 1,500 |
| Sheffield Sharks | Sheffield | Ponds Forge | 1,000 |
| Surrey Scorchers | Guildford | Surrey Sports Park | 1,000 |
* On 23 June 2021, the owners of the Worcester Wolves withdrew their team from the BBL, citing financial issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the main reasons for the decision.
* On 8 July 2021, Plymouth Raiders withdrew from the league due to an increase in the cost of rent at their home venue, the Plymouth Pavilions.
* On 30 July 2021, it was announced by the league that the city of Plymouth would have a franchise for the 2021–22 season.
* On 9 August 2021, Plymouth City Patriots were announced to join the British Basketball League for the 2021–22 season, led by local businessman Carl Heslop. The new organisation could not secure the transfer of the naming and branding rights of the Plymouth Raiders from Plymouth Raiders 1983 Ltd, the previous owners. The Patriots played their home games at the Plymouth Pavilions for one season only.

### Personnel and sponsorship

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Main jersey sponsor |
| Bristol Flyers | Andreas Kapoulas | Josh Rogers | Xledger |
| Cheshire Phoenix | Ben Thomas | Teddy Okereafor | RentASpace |
| Glasgow Rocks | Gareth Murray | Jonny Bunyan | Glen Luss |
| Leicester Riders | Rob Paternostro | Darien Nelson-Henry | Jelson Homes |
| London Lions | Nikhil Lawry | Justin Robinson | |
| Manchester Giants | Lloyd Gardner | Dan Clark | |
| Newcastle Eagles | Ian McLeod | Rahmon Fletcher | GiveToLocal |
| Plymouth City Patriots | Paul James | Elvisi Dusha | |
| Sheffield Sharks | Atiba Lyons | Mike Tuck | B. Braun |
| Surrey Scorchers | Creon Raftopoulos | Tayo Ogedengbe | Gidden Place |

### Coaching changes

| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| Plymouth City Patriots | New team | New team | New team | Pre-season | Paul James | 10 August 2021 |
| London Lions | Vince Macaulay | Released | 19 January 2022 | 8th (3–2) | James Vear | 19 January 2022 |
| London Lions | James Vear | Personal reasons | 30 March 2022 | 5th (10–7) | Nikhil Lawry | 30 March 2022 |

## BBL Cup

The 2021–22 BBL Cup featured all 10 teams, split into 2 geographical groups, North and South. Each team played each other twice (once home, once away) with the top 4 teams in each group progressing to the quarter-finals. Single-legged quarter-finals and two-legged semi-finals matches determined the two finalists who contested the Cup final at Arena Birmingham.

### Qualification Stage
#### North Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Manchester Giants | 8 | 6 | 2 | 711 | 634 | +77 | 12 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Glasgow Rocks | 8 | 5 | 3 | 690 | 663 | +27 | 10 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Cheshire Phoenix | 8 | 4 | 4 | 639 | 666 | −27 | 8 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Sheffield Sharks | 8 | 4 | 4 | 622 | 618 | +4 | 8 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Newcastle Eagles | 8 | 1 | 7 | 639 | 720 | −81 | 2 | |

#### South Group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | London Lions | 8 | 7 | 1 | 722 | 622 | +100 | 14 | Quarter-finals |
| 2 | Leicester Riders | 8 | 6 | 2 | 715 | 616 | +99 | 12 | Quarter-finals |
| 3 | Bristol Flyers | 8 | 4 | 4 | 649 | 653 | −4 | 8 | Quarter-finals |
| 4 | Surrey Scorchers | 8 | 3 | 5 | 639 | 654 | −15 | 6 | Quarter-finals |
| 5 | Plymouth City Patriots | 8 | 0 | 8 | 513 | 693 | −180 | 0 | |

### Cup final
## BBL Championship

The BBL Championship retained the three-game series format from the previous season, for a 27-game regular season, played across 24 Rounds between 29 October 2021 to 24 April 2022.
On 6 April 2022, Leicester Riders were crowned league champions and won their 6th BBL Championship title.

### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Leicester Riders (C) | 27 | 25 | 2 | 2458 | 1934 | +524 | 50 | Playoffs |
| 2 | Sheffield Sharks | 27 | 17 | 10 | 2054 | 2005 | +49 | 34 | Playoffs |
| 3 | London Lions | 27 | 16 | 11 | 2276 | 2165 | +111 | 32 | Playoffs |
| 4 | Bristol Flyers | 27 | 14 | 13 | 2185 | 2097 | +88 | 28 | Playoffs |
| 5 | Manchester Giants | 27 | 14 | 13 | 2351 | 2309 | +42 | 28 | Playoffs |
| 6 | Cheshire Phoenix | 27 | 13 | 14 | 2272 | 2280 | −8 | 26 | Playoffs |
| 7 | Glasgow Rocks | 27 | 12 | 15 | 2415 | 2471 | −56 | 24 | Playoffs |
| 8 | Plymouth City Patriots | 27 | 12 | 15 | 2176 | 2319 | −143 | 24 | Playoffs |
| 9 | Newcastle Eagles | 27 | 10 | 17 | 2313 | 2422 | −109 | 20 | |
| 10 | Surrey Scorchers | 27 | 2 | 25 | 1959 | 2457 | −498 | 4 | |

### 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.
2021–22 BBL Championship vte :
| Team vte | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Bristol Flyers | – | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| Cheshire Phoenix | 4 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Glasgow Rocks | – | 8 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| Leicester Riders | 2 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| London Lions | – | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Manchester Giants | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Newcastle Eagles | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Plymouth City Patriots | – | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Sheffield Sharks | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Surrey Scorchers | – | 7 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |

## BBL Trophy

The BBL Trophy retained the same, 16-team bracket format as introduced for the 2018–19 season. The ten BBL teams were joined in the first round draw by six invited teams; Solent Kestrels, Derby Trailblazers, Thames Valley Cavaliers and Hemel Storm, from the English Basketball League. Falkirk Fury from the Scottish Basketball Championship and Basketball Wales are the only additional teams outside of England.

### Trophy final
## Playoffs

The BBL Playoffs returned to the two-legged aggregate series format used prior to the 2020–21 season. The BBL Playoff Final was played at The O2 Arena, London for the sixth time and saw Leicester Riders defeat London Lions.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Leicester Riders | 86 | 88 | 174 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Plymouth City Patriots | 71 | 87 | 158 | | | | | | | | |
| 8 | Plymouth City Patriots | 71 | 87 | 158 | 1 | Leicester Riders | 105 | 104 | 209 | | | |
| | | | | | 7 | Glasgow Rocks | 84 | 78 | 162 | | | |
| 2 | Sheffield Sharks | 83 | 72 | 155 | 7 | Glasgow Rocks | 84 | 78 | 162 | | | |
| 7 | Glasgow Rocks | 76 | 96 | 172 | | | | | | | | |
| 7 | Glasgow Rocks | 76 | 96 | 172 | | | | | | 1 | Leicester Riders | 78 |
| | | | | | | | | | | 3 | London Lions | 75 |
| 3 | London Lions | 85 | 95 | 180 | | | | | | | | | 3 | London Lions | 75 |
| 6 | Cheshire Phoenix | 69 | 97 | 166 | | | | | | | | |
| 6 | Cheshire Phoenix | 69 | 97 | 166 | 3 | London Lions | 85 | 91 | 176 | | | |
| | | | | | 4 | Bristol Flyers | 83 | 73 | 156 | | | |
| 4 | Bristol Flyers | 79 | 94 | 173 | 4 | Bristol Flyers | 83 | 73 | 156 | | | |
| 5 | Manchester Giants | 91 | 80 | 171 | | | | | | | | |

### Playoff final
#### (1) Leicester Riders vs. (3) London Lions
## Awards

* Most Valuable Player: Geno Crandall (Leicester Riders)
* Play-off Final MVP: Geno Crandall (Leicester Riders)
* Coach of the Year: Rob Paternostro (Leicester Riders)

### 2021–22 BBL Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Geno Crandall | Leicester Riders |
| SG | Isaiah Reese | London Lions |
| SF | Patrick Whelan | Leicester Riders |
| PF | Daniel Clark | Manchester Giants |
| C | Darien Nelson-Henry | Leicester Riders |
Source: 2021–22 Molten BBL Team of the Year

### 2021–22 BBL All-British Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Teddy Okereafor | Cheshire Phoenix |
| SG | Rowell Graham-Bell | Plymouth City Patriots |
| SF | Patrick Whelan | Leicester Riders |
| PF | Daniel Clark | Manchester Giants |
| C | Mike Ochereobia | Cheshire Phoenix |
Source: 2021–22 BBL All-British Team of the Year

### 2021–22 BBL Defensive Team of the Year

| # | Player | Team |
| PG | Larry Austin Jr. | Cheshire Phoenix |
| SG | Jordan Harris | Glasgow Rocks |
| SF | Julian Washburn | London Lions |
| PF | Jamell Anderson | Manchester Giants |
| C | Kylor Kelley | London Lions |
Source: 2021–22 BBL Defensive Team of the Year

## British clubs in European competitions

| Team | Competition | Progress |
| London Lions | Champions League | First qualifying round |
| London Lions | FIBA Europe Cup | Second round |