SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (February 25, 2022) -- When the Senior Men’s National Team hit the practice court this week in advance of the second window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, the impact of the CEBL over the last several seasons was clear to see.

“We are just thrilled with our partnership with Canada Basketball,” CEBL Commissioner and CEO Mike Morreale said. “When we are able to look at a Senior Men's National Team list and see 16 of the 24 players listed have either spent time in the CEBL or have contracts ready for this year to go on the CEBL, it's a bit of a proud moment because the idea was always to provide opportunities for our best players to get a chance to play at home and now we're seeing it play out in real life. I think it speaks to the quality of the Canadian talent that has been all over the world for years and years and years and I think this is just the beginning of what's to come.”

Since its inception in 2017, the goal of the CEBL has been to provide athletes with an opportunity to develop and further their careers while getting the opportunity to play at home. As basketball has exploded in Canada over the past decade, highlighted by the Toronto Raptors winning the first NBA Championship in franchise history in 2019, the CEBL has provided another avenue for Canadians to experience the game from coast to coast.

“We're able to now take that and spread it across the whole country,” Morreale said. “To actively be in markets that don't have professional basketball and haven't had professional basketball and create those real, achievable goals in a young person's mind. You're creating those pipelines with the ability to see the trajectory from practicing basketball to one day being a pro and doing it in Canada.”

Another way that the CEBL is changing the game for Canadians is through the many opportunities it provides beyond the players suiting up for each of its 10 teams.

“We don't just provide opportunities for players, it’s [also for] coaches, officials, for statisticians, for training staff, for executives,” Morreale said. “It's an ecosystem that we helped create that didn't exist before. We did it for all the right reasons because we wanted to grow the game, not just look at what we do as a for-profit business. We know to be successful, profitable, you have to become part of the fabric of the community that you work in.”

When Canadian hooper Jevohn Shepherd’s 11-year professional playing career was coming to an end he wasn’t entirely sure what was next, but knew he wanted to return home. Spending more than a decade experiencing different cities and teams in Europe had been an amazing part of his career, but it also meant missing friends and family for most of the year.

“The toughest thing for me was in the last two, three, four years of my career, when you know that father time is undefeated,” Shepherd said. “The toughest time was to really think, ‘Okay, what is next? How do I pivot? Who do I identify as without the sport right now?’

Shepherd’s first post-playing career move was a big one. The 35-year-old was announced as general manager of the CEBL’s Ottawa BlackJacks in 2020.

“[The CEBL] was this perfect marriage and perfect opportunity because you come back home and here is everything you’ve done for the last 20 years of your life, you can now just apply it on another stage, another platform now. In my case, this was the front office. I think the beauty of it is that all of those big questions [I had] were answered, and I was still living my passion."

As Shepherd made his transition from playing career to front office executive, the CEBL structure as well as his fellow league executives made the jump easier. Former national team teammates Joel Anthony and Jermaine Anderson are also working as General Managers within the league.

“It’s a stepping stone,” Shepherd said. “It has allowed many of us to be in rooms we probably wouldn’t have had the opportunities to be in, to rub shoulders with people that can open more doors, and have those conversations. It gives such a different platform, such a huge platform that we’ve never had before.”

Since moving into his new role, Shepherd has had the unique vantage point of seeing how domestic leagues overseas worked, providing opportunities for players and executives, as well as how the CEBL is doing the same here in Canada.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “From what Mike Morreale and the CEBL has done, but also with what Canada Basketball has done, [CEO of Canada Basketball] Mike Bartlett has done, in terms of his vision, in terms of being inclusive. Everything is moving in the right direction. And it's very promising.”

Shepherd is thankful that the league is providing more opportunities for young athletes growing up in Canada today. He’s also encouraged by the level of support available and he wants kids growing up with hoop dreams to know that it's there.

“I think for players in this country, it's a time to be motivated, a time to be enthused because there's so much opportunity available now,” Shepherd said. “It's not just within our small basketball community. Nationally, we're getting that notoriety, getting that recognition. People are taking notice of the CEBL. People are taking notice of the progression of Canada Basketball. It is an amazing time for up and coming players, up and coming coaches, front office, broadcast, whatever it is in terms of where Canada's going to be and the contribution from CEBL and the support of Canada Basketball.”

In addition to the CEBL’s partnership with Canada Basketball, the league has also seen a number of its players go on to sign 10-day contracts as well as two-way contracts with NBA teams this season.

“You know, it's probably happened a little quicker than we expected,” Morreale said. It really speaks to the level of competition and speaks to the visibility [of the league], and it speaks to the type of players that we attract. Besides being unbelievably talented, they are determined and they want to get to their goal and they believe that CEBL can help.”

With the growth of the league happening so quickly, it’s easy to forget that the CEBL has been operating for the previous two seasons under the limitations of the pandemic. As the world inches closer to a return to the “before” times, Morreale will be glad when things return to business as usual on the court.

“I'm excited to get our fourth season underway,” he said. “I'm excited to return to normal. Everything's pointing in that direction, so we feel really comfortable and we look forward to bringing our Championship weekend to Ontario and Ottawa in the middle of August.”

The five-day Championship Weekend event that Morreale is referring to will be hosted by the Ottawa BlackJacks from August 12-14, 2022 with games taking place at the TD Place Arena. The team with the best regular season record will join host team Ottawa with automatic berths into the four-team Championship Weekend. The next four teams in the standings will play quarter-final games to determine which two teams will advance to the semifinals in the nation’s capital.

“I think that'll be a great opportunity for the broader community to see what we're all about in a fun atmosphere at the end of the season to celebrate, not just the CEBL, but Canadian basketball,” Morreale said.

From the players representing Canada in this week’s FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, to the players signing with NBA teams this season, to those just getting started in the CEBL, Morreale is thrilled to see it all unfold.

“It's been one of the proudest moments, that the CEBL is becoming a platform, not only to help people get to the NBA, but our players, whether returning athletes are getting better deals when they go back to Europe, young players that are coming out of the youth sports or the NCAA are getting the first ever contract in Europe after they play in the CEBL because now they've got film and experience, it's all kind of coming together. The process, it's working.”