Establishment In mid-2011, discussion began of a domestic basketball
minor league in Canada. Three franchises from the
Premier Basketball League (PBL), the
Halifax Rainmen,
Quebec Kebs, and
Saint John Mill Rats were the first to join the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL). The teams had been unhappy with the officiating in the PBL. On May 12 of that year in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, league CEO
Andre Levingston held a press conference regarding the creation of the NBL Canada. By the end of the summer, the
London Lightning,
Moncton Miracles,
Oshawa Power, and
Summerside Storm were established and had announced that they would join the league. There had also been unsuccessful attempts to start up teams in
Fredericton, New Brunswick, and
Kingston, Ontario. (pictured in 2008) chose to partake in the NBL Canada due to the poor quality of the PBL. John Kennedy, a native of
Windsor and a sports executive based in
Los Angeles, was named the first commissioner of the NBL. He previously had experience working with the
Los Angeles Lakers and
Los Angeles Clippers of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). League president
Andre Levingston spoke on his expectations of the commissioner, saying, "We wanted to make sure we had a person who was going to be committed and was willing to roll up his sleeves and work very hard, someone who understood business, had business relationship and a person who was going to govern the league the right way." In June 2011, the league finalized rules for its first season. Players could earn potentially $70,000 in one season, and each game would draw an average of 3,000 fans, varying by location. Levingston envisioned the NBL Canada as a more stable alternative to other North American minor basketball leagues with players living close to home while playing professionally. Jerome Brown, who was picked fifth overall by the Mill Rats, was the first Canadian to be taken in the draft. The event was viewed by more than 6,000 people online from 93 countries. 180 players from across the world attended the preceding NBL Canada combine. The first player to be signed into the NBL Canada was Canadian
Yannick Anzuluni, who joined the Kebs on a three-year contract on August 17, 2011. On October 29, in the first game of the NBL Canada's inaugural
2011–12 NBL Canada season, the Kebs defeated the Miracles at the
Colisée de Laval. Within a week, every team in the league had played at least one game. The NBL Canada's opening season brought in marquee players such as
Gabe Freeman,
Anthony Anderson, and Lawrence Wright. They drew a league-high 5,106 fans to the
John Labatt Centre for the game. Levingston touted the league because it "played a full schedule on every set date and never had a problem." The league soon welcomed the
Windsor Express after an ownership group from
Windsor, Ontario, and
Detroit, led by Dartis Willis Sr., began investing in the expansion team in June 2012. The team, which was approved into the league in late July, would play out of
WFCU Centre. On the other hand, the Quebec Kebs, who had relocated to
Laval, Quebec, in the offseason, left the league after experiencing challenges in their first year. By November, the Kebs were replaced with the
Montreal Jazz, who would compete at
Centre Pierre Charbonneau. In the
2012–13 season, the league consisted of eight teams separated into divisions: four teams competed in the Atlantic Division, while the remaining four competed in the Central Division.
League changes (2013–2019) The league grew to nine teams in the
2013–14 season by adding the
Brampton A's and
Ottawa Skyhawks, while the Montreal Jazz folded. Two teams relocated within their same regions with Oshawa Power moving to Mississauga and Summerside to Charlottetown as the
Island Storm. The league returned to eight teams the following season due to Ottawa falling below league standards and failing to repay a loan to the league. Prior to the
2014–15 season, the league announced its first national broadcast deal with
beIN Sports. Starting with the
2014–15 season, two regular season games were scheduled to be aired each week with special coverage for playoffs and special events such as the All Star Weekend. The deal ran through the 2016–17 season. The 2014–15 season ended in controversy as the Windsor Express were declared winners of the championship series after the Halifax Rainmen failed to show for the seventh and deciding game. The Rainmen organization claimed the reason for not appearing in the game that night because their players feared for their safety following a physical altercation earlier in the day with the Express. The Rainmen and its players were fined by the league and the team ultimately filed for bankruptcy and folded. The following
2015–16 season, the league replaced the Rainmen with the
Halifax Hurricanes. The new Halifax team returned to the championship game, defeating the London Lightning to win the title in their first season. The league expanded to ten teams in the
2016–17 season by adding the
Cape Breton Highlanders and
KW Titans. In the
2017–18 season, the league stayed at ten teams following the Miracles and A's folding and the addition of the
Moncton Magic and
St. John's Edge in the Maritimes. The initially announced a team in
Greater Sudbury, but was forced to delay their launch leaving the league with four teams in Ontario and six in the Maritimes, leading the Edge to play as a member of the Central Division. The Lightning won the championship in both seasons, having won four of the first seven titles up to that point. Following their delayed start, NBL Canada expanded into
Northern Ontario with the addition of the
Sudbury Five for the
2018–19 season. However, the league lost another Ontario team when the Niagara River Lions left to help found the rival
Canadian Elite Basketball League. St. John's was again a member of the Central Division, but mostly played against Atlantic Division teams.
Pandemic and contraction (2019–2023) Before the
2019–20 season, the league folded the Cape Breton Highlanders and
Saint John Riptide as their respective owners tried to sell the teams and the league shrank to eight teams. During the season, the
COVID-19 pandemic caused games to be suspended on March 12, 2020. The season was then entirely cancelled as the pandemic closed arenas and travel was restricted. The league initially delayed the start to the 2020–21 season as the pandemic continued into 2021. On March 4, 2021, NBL Canada announced there would be no 2020–21 season. During the hiatus, the
Halifax Hurricanes and
Moncton Magic both withdrew from the league while the
St. John's Edge were not granted a new lease for their arena. Subsequently, the
Island Storm withdrew from the season as it was the only remaining member in the Maritimes ready to play in the 2021–22 season, leaving the league with only the four active teams in Ontario. In order to fill the schedule, the league agreed to inter-league series play with the US-based
The Basketball League (TBL), run by former NBLC commissioner
David Magley and his wife Evelyn. Following the conclusion of the 2022–23 NBLC season, the remaining NBLC teams were merged along with teams from the TBL into the new
Basketball Super League. ==Teams==