Canadian Elite Basketball League the Canadian Content 'hoop fans have been waiting for
Nick Bondi | October 10, 2018 | BC Sports Hub • October 10, 2018
More high quality basketball is always a good thing right?
That’s what the organizers behind the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) are banking on. The new professional league will start with six teams, with the lone BC team being located in Abbotsford.
Heading up the basketball side of things for the CEBL is Joe Raso, former Canadian National team assistant coach. One of the most respected men in Canadian basketball, his 35+ years of experience at different levels will almost certainly make the on-court product entertaining for the fans from the outset.
“This league was very different in that it’s branded from the top down” said Raso to BC Sports Hub
on what excited him about this project.
“They’ve got incredible organization, they’ve got this brand that puts this league together and know exactly what they want. [. . .] That really interested me because there’s a vision here, and there’s a big Canadian content vision and a big quality vision.”
“They’ve got incredible organization, they’ve got this brand that puts this league together and know exactly what they want. [. . .] That really interested me because there’s a vision here, and there’s a big Canadian content vision and a big quality vision.”
The CEBL from the very beginning will be over fifty percent Canadian, with players from the U Sports and NCAA as well as Canadians playing in leagues across Europe planning to take part. It’s a commitment to make this a place for Canadian talent to start their professional journey, as well as for the many Canadian already playing professionally to play close to family and friends over the course of the summer. Running from May to September, it doesn’t conflict with any college seasons or professional leagues overseas.
“The pool of talent will be very large” Raso explained. “The nice thing about playing when other leagues aren’t playing is a lot of players will then take the advantage of coming back and playing in our league.
The pool is completely across the country. It is players who are playing professionally, it is players who seek to play professionally. For some it will be their first step into the pro ranks, for others it will be another league they will play in over a long career.”
Canada is currently going through a basketball renaissance over the last decade. It is now a real possibility for the top Canadian ballers to showcase themselves in the NBA. Now more than ever, a professional basketball league dedicated to Canadian players truly does make sense.
“There was a dream once that Canadians had of playing professional basketball” said Raso. “It’s a reality now. We’ve got the second amount of players in the NBA of all countries in the world. And that means we’ve got a lot of players playing overseas and all over the world. It’s time now for some of those players to come back and play here.”
The lone BC team, the Fraser Valley Bandits, will play out of the Abbotsford Centre starting next May. The other five teams will be located in Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Niagara, Guelph, and Hamilton. Season tickets are currently available for sale
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Written by: Nick Bondi
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The Vancouver Bandits have signed 6-foot-9 forward and Surrey, BC product Majok Gum for the 2026 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season. An attendee of 2026 Training Camp, Gum competed for the Bandits during the 2026 preseason and appeared in two games during the 2025 CEBL regular season. Gum began the 2025-26 overseas season in Germany with BÖRGEL Ballers Ibbenbüren before transferring to BK Amager in Denmark's first division, Basketligaen, where he averaged 14.9 points and 11.6 rebounds per game across 19 games played. At the collegiate level, Gum played five seasons at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. In 117 games (41 starts), he averaged 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks while shooting 46.5 per cent from the field. His 52 career blocks ranked him sixth all time in Golden Hawks program history. An alumnus of Byrne Creek Secondary in Burnaby, B.C., Gum helped lead the Bulldogs to a second place finish at the 2018 BC 3A Boys Basketball Provincial Championship, while also earning Best Defensive Player honours at the tournament. Gum will wear number 4 for the Bandits.
Physio District is proud to partner with the Vancouver Bandits as the organization’s Official Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Provider. Led by Director of Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Vic Sanghera and Physiotherapist Neil Nijjar, the partnership will support the Bandits with comprehensive injury management, rehabilitation, performance optimization, recovery, and return-to-play services throughout the CEBL season. With extensive experience working in high-performance sport, amateur and professional athletics, and international competition environments, Physio District brings an integrated approach focused on athlete availability, performance support, and evidence-informed care through manual therapy, movement analysis, and corrective exercise principles. In collaboration with the Bandits performance staff, the partnership will also incorporate advanced athlete monitoring and performance technologies through Hawkins Dynamics systems, including force plate testing and TruStrength performance assessment tools, to support rehabilitation progression, performance profiling, and return-to-play decision-making. Physio District is committed to helping athletes perform at their highest level while supporting long-term health, recovery, and durability throughout the demands of a professional basketball season. Physio District is excited to support the Vancouver Bandits organization and contribute to a high-performance environment both on and off the court.
The Vancouver Bandits were unable to find consistent offense against the Edmonton Stingers, suffering a 91-78 defeat Saturday night at the Edmonton Expo Centre. The game started with both teams going blow for blow in scoring, until the Stingers began to pull away with three-pointers from Samage Teel and Michael Nuga. The Stingers applied overwhelming defensive pressure, slowing down the Bandits up-tempo offence. The Bandits got into a rhythm in the second quarter, chipping away at the deficit and out-pacing the Stingers defense. The Stingers went cold offensively as they approached half time, going a full three minutes without scoring. That dry spell for the Stingers took place during a 19-6 run for the Bandits in that quarter, as they defended aggressively and found more space on the attack. Jalen House shot 8 for 9 in the first half at the free throw line, while Tevian Jones used his explosive athleticism to score 16 points. The Bandits took the lead on free throws from reigning Canadian Player of the Year, Tyrese Samuel, who finished with a team-leading 13 rebounds. The second quarter ended with the Bandits on top, 42-38. The Stingers responded in the third quarter with gritty, physical defense, while using the full shot clock on offense. The Bandits couldn’t build momentum, allowing 33 points and surrendering the lead. The Bandits flirted with a comeback in the fourth, shrinking the Stingers’ lead to seven points, but were unable to capitalise. House led the game in scoring with 27 points, but he was disappointed with the defensive effort from the Bandits. “We were letting them get [points] too easily in the paint, easy threes.” Vancouver head coach Kyle Julius said “our defensive effort was poor everywhere,” calling tonight’s game “one of our worst performances in two to three years.” The success in the second quarter came from the Bandits “playing good defense, playing hard,” said House. “That’s obviously why we shot up and got that three point lead going into half time, but we got away from it.” The Stingers big man Dain Dainja put up 25 points and 14 rebounds in over 29 minutes, all of which led his team. Vancouver falls to 1-1, and goes down 0-1 in the home-and-home series. Vancouver will play Edmonton again on Friday, May 22 for their Home Opener at Envision Financial Court at the Langley Events Centre. Tickets are available for purchase at this link . Box Score https://www.cebl.ca/game?id=2798728
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