Head of British basketball wants more homegrown players in the NBA

The head of British basketball says her aim is to have 40 homegrown players performing in America's top leagues.

At the moment Luol Deng of the Los Angeles Lakers is the only Brit playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Funding for UK basketball was cut after the team's poor performance at the London 2012 Olympic games.

Lisa Wainwright said: "If we could have 20 men in the NBA and 20 women in the WNBA that would be great."

Despite that, the sport continues to grow and it's currently the fifth most popular team sport in the UK behind football, netball, rugby and cricket.

More than 105,000 teenagers aged 16+ play it at least once each week.

Lisa Wainwright, who took up her role as chief executive of the British Basketball Federation in October, says the sport has been through a tough time but it's getting back on its feet.

"I think it's come through a really tough time, but things are so much better and changing in the right direction.

"There are people still coming through the system, and the [cuts] does make it more difficult, but we've still got people playing out there in a British shirt so we'll continue to do what we can."

Although there are not many players in the top league in America there are plenty of Brits plying their trade in elite leagues across Europe.

Lisa Wainwright says she knows one of her main tasks is to nurture talent and create "faces of British basketball" which will get the sport the exposure it needs.

"The physical impact is post 2012, all the squads stopped. No under-16s, no under-18s, no boys and girls are playing if you like, and no squads.

"What we've done is reformed as British basketball with a lot of help, and we've just this last year got a small amount of funding to get our squads on the court.

"But we're back in terms of a vision of driving our sport forwards, and it means the kids in the clubs can play within the British league, or they can start to aspire to be in a Great Britain shirt."

One of the brightest talents in British basketball is Kavell Bigby-Williams, who will be playing in college basketball for Louisiana State University next season.

The 21-year-old enjoyed a spectacular 2016-2017 campaign which saw him help his team reach college basketball's championship game.

One of the NBA's brightest talents at the moment is Draymond Green.

He's the current defensive player of the year and secured his second championship in June.

He thinks the lack of British talent gracing the league is down to a variety of reasons.

"I'm not sure why it is, possibly because soccer is so popular. Soccer is just taken so much more seriously, when you look around there's a lot of great British soccer players - that's really the only thing I can think of," Draymond said.

Draymond Green won a gold medal at Rio 2016.

The 27-year-old says he's enjoyed coming up against Luol Deng and would relish taking on more Brits on a regular basis.

"He [Luol Deng] has an unmatched energy when he's on the floor, he's always bringing that constant energy."

Draymond Green also has an Olympic gold medal from Rio 2016 and has this advice for any young players hoping to make it to the top of the game.

"Just put in a countless number of hours in the gym. When no-one else is working, you're in the gym working.

"Even if that's outside dribbling in the driveway, just keep that basketball in your hand and always working at it.

"You'll just continue to get better and better and then the sky's the limit."

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