Great Britain opened their EuroBasket 2029 campaign with a 110-75 demolition of Switzerland in Fribourg on Wednesday night, the most emphatic performance of Marc Steutel’s tenure and the first result delivered by a squad containing a current NBA player, a former one and a newly drafted one.
Boston Celtics centre Amari Williams, Dallas Mavericks second-round pick Tobi Lawal and Barcelona forward Tosan Evbuomwan — a veteran of four NBA rosters — were all released for the pre-qualifying double-header, an availability windfall GB have rarely enjoyed. Switzerland were outscored in all four quarters at the Salle Saint Leonard, most heavily 29-13 in the third, in front of 1,020 spectators. Slovakia arrive at Newcastle’s Vertu Motors Arena on Sunday.
Three players, three routes to the NBA
Williams, 23 and from Nottingham, is the current NBA man. He reached Boston through the 2025 draft after a college career that took him from Drexel to Kentucky, and made his senior GB debut seven years after last representing the national programme at youth level.
“I’ve wanted to be involved throughout that time, but the timing has never fallen right,” Williams said. “To have the opportunity to do it this summer is something I’ve been looking forward to.”
Evbuomwan is the former. The 25-year-old Newcastle native graduated from Princeton in 2023 and logged spells with Memphis, Brooklyn, New York and Detroit before winning NBA G League Finals MVP last season, averaging 19.4 points and 5.8 rebounds. He signed for Barcelona for the 2026-27 EuroLeague season and, like Williams, was making his first senior appearance for GB.
Lawal is the future. The Mavericks took the 6ft 8in Londoner with the 48th pick in June’s draft after a senior year at Virginia Tech in which he averaged 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds at 54% from the field. He did not pick up a basketball until he was 16, moved to Maine for high school, and posted a 45.5-inch max vertical at the draft combine — among the best figures ever recorded there.
Why the timing finally worked
GB’s problem has never been talent identification. It has been the calendar. FIBA schedules most qualifying windows in November and February, when NBA and EuroLeague clubs are mid-season and under no obligation to release players. Steutel has spent years building a squad around the players who are actually available rather than the ones on paper.
“In season, guys in the NBA struggle to get [released],” Steutel said. “There’s very little ability.”
An August window changes the maths, and GB exploited it. The 16-man roster also included Quinn Ellis of St John’s University, who top-scored with 22 points against the Swiss, London Lions’ Joshua O’Garro, Newcastle Eagles’ Josh Ward-Hibbert and veteran Myles Hesson. The margin came from efficiency: GB shot 49% from the field, 39.3% from three and 82.5% from the line, against Switzerland’s 38%, 30.4% and 74.1%. Niko Rocak’s 20 points were the only meaningful Swiss resistance.
“Every national team has their own strengths and areas for improvement,” Steutel said, “and our strength is the culture we’ve built and the commitment and continued service we’ve seen from our players.”
One notable absentee remains New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby, the highest-profile British player in the NBA, who has still not committed to the programme.
A homecoming, and the road to 2029
Sunday carries particular weight for Evbuomwan, who grew up in Newcastle and came through the Eagles academy. Wednesday was his debut; the Vertu Motors Arena will be his first senior appearance on home soil.
“Tosan has wanted to be a part of the national team set-up for a long time,” Steutel said. Evbuomwan and Williams also played together at the FIBA U18 European Championship. “For us to have both our debuts at the same time is special,” Evbuomwan said.
The stakes are structural rather than dramatic. GB are in Group E of the pre-qualifiers, with further windows in November and February. The equation is straightforward:
- Win the group and GB advance to full EuroBasket 2029 qualifying
- Finish anywhere else and they face another round of pre-qualifying next year
That is the context this squad was assembled to address. GB were eliminated from 2027 World Cup qualifying and have not appeared at a EuroBasket finals since 2022, a decline that has as much to do with domestic funding instability as with playing personnel. Three NBA-affiliated names for one August window does not reverse that. But a 35-point away win, with two debutants integrated and a third NBA draftee still to be fully unleashed, is the clearest evidence yet that when GB can get their best players in the same gym, the results follow.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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