Lisa Wainwright Apologises Over BBC Remarks

British Basketball Federation CEO Lisa Wainwright has apologised following her controversial comments on a BBC interview last week.

“I’m conscious of a huge amount of upset within the sport due to some of my comments on a BBC interview,” Wainwright said to Hoopsfix on Saturday at Drew Sullivan’s Testimonial Game in Leicester.

“It was a 20 minute interview, edited down to just over a minute and honestly, if I’ve upset or offended anyone within the sport of basketball, I personally apologise for that.”

Wainwright drew criticism when she falsely stated that all junior squads ceased to exist post-2012, spoke of unrealistic NBA and WNBA ambitions for British players, before claiming “things are so much better” within the sport which continues to struggle.

Her comments incensed GB Senior cap Devon van Ooostrum to pen an open letter in response, which received widespread support.

Wainwright added:

“My intentions are to bring investment into the sport to enable anybody with the right ability to be able to play at the right level, whether that be for the home countries; England, Scotland, Wales, within the BBL, for GB, or in the NBA, my aim is to support that.

“So again, if I offended anyone, particularly players, I apologise to them. Let’s now work together to move the sport forward, to put it in the right position in terms of where we are in Britain.”

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix