London Lions to play Portland Trail Blazers in historic NBA preseason game

The London Lions are set to become the first British basketball club to play an NBA team in October when they face the Portland Trail Blazers.The reigning British league champions will face the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, in a preseason game on Monday, October 12. It is set for a 1pm local time (PT) tip-off, which will be 9pm (BST) in the United Kingdom.Lions head coach Tautvydas Sabonis, 34, is the son of Arvydas Sabonis, who spent seven seasons at the Portland Trail Blazers as a player across two spells between 1995-2001 and 2002-2003.London is one of the proposed markets for the NBA’s Europe League, which is to consist of 16 teams and targeted to start in October 2027. Final bids have been made for permanent franchises ranging from $500 million to $1 billion, w