GB emerging from 'exceptionally difficult period'

Hearing your country has been banned from competition is not the ideal way to prepare for a World Cup qualifier.

Just last month head coach Marc Steutel feared his players' international careers were over when Great Britain were suspended by basketball's world governing body Fiba.

It followed governance failures after the British Basketball Federation (BBF) went into liquidation.

After weeks of turmoil, Great Britain were eventually cleared to play Thursday's scheduled tie with Lithuania.

"If I said it felt like getting hit with a sledgehammer, I'd be understating it," Steutel told BBC Sport, describing the moment he found out about the ban.

When his team tip off at London's Copper Box Arena there will be relief, but also lingering uncertainty.

British basketball appears to have survived its latest crisis but how did it get here and how does it move forward?

'I was stopped in my tracks'

Having spent two decades immersed in British basketball, Steutel has experienced the best and worst of the sport - but even he admits the last few months have tested him in ways he never expected.

"It was heartbreaking, debilitating, frustrating… I was stopped in my tracks. I'm still probably working through a range of emotions," he admitted.

"To think that the Great Britain senior men's team would not be able to compete in international competition, when we've worked so hard to get where we have because of no fault of our own… it was an exceptionally difficult period."

The suspension shocked the sport to its core and, while it has since been lifted, the fact it ever happened reveals something deeper for Steutel.

"It shows the severity of [the problem around] where the management of our game was," said the Newcastle Eagles head coach.

The 'civil war' - how did we get here?

British basketball's current turmoil dates back to the collapse of its previous financial backers 777 Partners in June 2024. The American investment firm was declared insolvent amid a failed attempt to buy Premier League club Everton.

The British Basketball League subsequently folded, which led to the nine top clubs setting up a new competition, Super League Basketball (SLB) and a temporary licence to run the league was granted by the BBF.

But then came the fallout.

In April, the BBF awarded the licence to run the professional men's competition to a group of external investors led by American businessman Marshall Glickman and called the Great Britain Basketball League Ltd (GBBL).

That decision sparked huge controversy.

The existing nine SLB clubs claimed the tender process was "illegal" and refused to join the new competition.

The BBF and the SLB then sued each other.

With all three parties at loggerheads, Fiba sent in a taskforce in August to investigate "regulatory non-compliance" in British basketball.

Fiba's concerns about the sport's governance led to sanctions. The BBF was suspended, which meant the British men's team were banned from international competition.

In November the ban was lifted after Fiba reached an agreement with SLB to "ensure the stability and continuity of the top-tier men's basketball in Great Britain".

But the division financially sank the governing body, and earlier this month the BBF announced it was entering liquidation.

A sport that 'shoots itself in the foot'

Despite the problems at elite level, grassroots level basketball is thriving. It is the second most popular team sport for young people in England behind football.

Steutel's side, the Newcastle Eagles, has more than 2,000 young people playing weekly and has seen one of their players, Tosan Evbuomwan, rise to become a rare British presence in the NBA with the New York Knicks.

The potential is there - and that is why the structural issues are frustrating for so many.

"Every time the sport looks like it's about to move forward, we shoot ourselves in the foot," said Drew Lasker, who spent 16 seasons playing at the top level of British basketball and is now a broadcaster.

"My honest opinion? I'm exhausted by it.

"It's very clear we don't have the right leadership in place with the right intentions."

He is not pointing fingers at individuals although added "people seem desperate to hold on to positions of power".

Lasker added: "And I keep asking, 'what are you holding on to?'

"The sport isn't worth anything right now, but it could be worth everything."

The immediate priority for the sport has been enabling the GB team to compete in the November international window.

Basketball England has worked with the SLB to deliver the game against Lithuania, while other stakeholders - such as UK Sport and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport - are involved to plot a way forward.

Lasker believes this chaotic moment could still be a turning point.

With the NBA looking to launch a new Europe-based league in 2027, including potential London and Manchester franchises, he says the opportunity is "massive".

"It gives the sport a chance to hit the reset button and build a solid foundation," added the American.

"If we take advantage, British basketball could explode quickly. If we don't, we may never get another opportunity like this."

Sanjay Bhandari, SLB interim chair, says lessons need to be learned, admitting the crisis "shows the risks and dangers of insufficiently challenging governance" and the sport needs a governance review.

Steutel agrees change is essential, adding: "We need people who can drive the sport forward performance-wise, commercially, administratively, financially."

More immediately, though, his team have a match to play.

The unsavoury saga has been unsettling for the players, but GB guard Josh Ward-Hibbert believes it will not affect their performance against Lithuania.

"You hear rumblings of uncertainty within the federation and the league - it can be concerning," he said. "But you just try to control what you can.

"Everyone understands where we are as a group and gives everything they can to push the national team forward."

Given the major concerns earlier this month, that the match is even taking place is already progress.