Fifth CEBL Season Opens as Brampton Begin Championship Title Defence: 2023 Season Preview

Target scores, high-flying action and top Canadian and international talent return to the hardwood Wednesday (May 24) for the fifth Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season as the 2022 CEBL champion Brampton Honey Badgers head to the nation’s capital to face off against the Ottawa BlackJacks at TD Place Arena at 7:30 p.m. local.

TSN+ and CEBL+ powered by BetVictor will showcase all 107 CEBL games this season including the CEBL postseason and 2023 Championship Weekend. Meanwhile, TSN, Canada’s Sports Leader, will also provide national broadcast coverage of the CEBL Game of the week tipping off with the season opener tomorrow.

For the first time, the CEBL will be sorted into an Eastern and Western Conference comprising of five teams each. The Brampton Honey Badgers, Niagara River Lions, Scarborough Shooting Stars, Ottawa BlackJacks and Montréal Alliance make up the Eastern Conference while the Vancouver Bandits, Saskatchewan Rattlers, Edmonton Stingers, Calgary Surge and Winnipeg Sea Bears make up the Western Conference. 

The CEBL postseason will feature play-in games between the third and fourth-ranked teams in each conference. Winners will advance to the Conference semifinals and play the second-best team of their respective conferences. The fifth-ranked team in each conference will be eliminated unless Vancouver places fifth in the west in which case the fourth-ranked west team will get eliminated. The Eastern and Western conference semifinal winners will play their respective conference teams already seeded in the conference finals. The 2023 Championship final will take place at the Langley Events Centre on August 13. 

Brampton will feature familiar faces in their effort to defend their title with six players returning from the championship run last year. 2022 CEBL Final MVP Christian Vital and CEBL Sixth Man of the Year Koby McEwen will be joined by fellow returners Zane Waterman, Jeremiah Tilmon Jr., Prince Oduro and Kyle Johnson in the journey to go back-to-back. 

The Honey Badgers’ opponent in last year’s championship game, the Scarborough Shooting Stars, look to take the next step in the franchise’s second season to secure a championship. The Shooting Stars bring back eight players that suited up for the squad last season along with the addition of other free agent signings including reigning CEBL U SPORTS Player of the year and U SPORTS MVP, Thomas Kennedy. Scarborough’s backcourt of Jalen Harris and Cat Barber—both All-CEBL players last season—will bring NBA-pedigree to the lineup. 

Meanwhile, the Niagara River Lions enter the season with best odds to win the 2023 championship as per BetVictor, the official betting partner of the CEBL. After finishing second in the regular season standings in 2022, Niagara will look to expect stellar defence this season, with 2022 Defensive Player of the Year EJ Onu and former Guelph Nighthawks forward TJ Lall anchoring the unit. Shaquille Keith and Jahvon Blair also join the squad after spending the 2022 season with the Newfoundland Growlers. Meanwhile, AJ Davis, Alonzo Walker and Jake Babic will return as they hope to not only secure a trip to Championship Weekend but play in the first-ever CEBL Championship final.

As hosts of 2023 CEBL Championship Weekend scheduled between August 11-13, the Vancouver Bandits already have a spot in the Western Conference Final. The Bandits bring together a collection of returning talent and new faces as they aim to win a title on home turf. Shane Gibson, Alex Campbell and Malcolm Duvivier are back for 2023 while Giorgi Bezhanishvili joins Vancouver after a successful stint with the Guelph Nighthawks late last season. Former CEBL all-star Nick Ward and NBA G League alumnus DJ Steward also bolster the Bandits’ roster in 2023. 

A pair of new markets in western Canada will have their inaugural CEBL seasons in 2023 as the Winnipeg Sea Bears and Calgary Surge take the court. The Sea Bears bring a wealth of local talent into the season, highlighted by Chad Posthumus and Simon Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt was selected first overall by Winnipeg in the 2023 U SPORTS Draft, while Posthumus brings CEBL experience with Ottawa, Saskatchewan and Edmonton. After seven games with Scarborough last season, Teddy Allen will play for the Sea Bears in the upcoming campaign. In the TBL in 2023, Allen averaged 27.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists in nine games with the Wichita Sky Kings.

Meanwhile, the Surge make the move from Guelph to Calgary but bring some Nighthawks talent out west with them. Clayton Henry, Maurice Calloo, Sean Miller-Moore and Stef Smith all make the move to Calgary after playing for the Nighthawks last season. The Surge also signed 6’10 Simi Shittu, a dual British-Canadian centre with experience in the NBA preseason and four seasons in the G League. Shittu’s G League career is highlighted by his 2020-21 season with the Westchester Knicks in which he averaged 14.5 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game. 

Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the two-time CEBL champion Edmonton Stingers will look to get back to their winning ways in 2023. Former CEBL Canadian Player of the Year Jordan Baker switches from the court to the sideline as he takes over for Jermaine Small as the Stingers’ head coach. Edmonton brings back impact players from previous seasons such as Adika Peter-McNeilly, Aher Uguak and Brody Clarke, while new signings Lucas Williamson and Jordan Burns will bring G League experience to the roster. 

Rounding out the west, the Saskatchewan Rattlers see the return of Anthony Tsegakele, Malik Benlevi, Mike Nuga, D’Andre Bernard and head coach Dean Demopoulos. Saskatchewan also adds former Wyoming shooting guard Drake Jeffries to their roster after a stint in the G League with the Osceola Magic. 

Back east, the Montreal Alliance and Ottawa BlackJacks look to bounce back from bottom-three regular season finishes in 2022. After hosting Championship Weekend last August, five BlackJacks rejoin the roster in 2023. Guillaume Pépin, Jackson Rowe, Kadre Gray, Maxime Boursiquot and Zena Edosomwan are accompanied by new American G League imports Elijah Pemberton and Matt Coleman III. 

Big man Nathan Cayo and guard Alain Louis are back with Montréal this season and are joined by the experienced scorer Ahmed Hill. Last season with Guelph, Hill averaged 17.9 points per game and scored a career-high 28 points against the Alliance in June. 

All CEBL games can also be streamed live on the league’s OTT platform, CEBL+ Powered by BetVictorand on the CEBL’s official app, CEBL Mobile, available on iOS and Android devices.

A league created by Canadians for Canadians with a mission to develop Canadian players, coaches, sports executives, and referees, the CEBL boasts the highest percentage of Canadian players of any pro league in the country with 71 percent of its 2022 rosters being Canadian. Players bring experience from the NBA, NBA G League, top international pro leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA programs as well as U SPORTS. Nine players have moved from the CEBL into the NBA following a CEBL season, and 28 CEBL players attended NBA G League training camps during October. The CEBL season runs from May through August.  More information about the CEBL is available at CEBL.ca and @cebleague on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook & YouTube.