Great Britain's men's basketball team has strengthened its squad with three players who have current or recent NBA experience, as it bids to progress through EuroBasket 2029 qualifying. Boston Celtics centre Amari Williams, Dallas Mavericks draft pick Tobi Lawal, and forward Tosan Evbuomwan, who has just joined Barcelona after three NBA seasons, are all available for this week's fixtures against Switzerland and Slovakia, giving head coach Marc Steutel arguably his strongest-ever squad. Their inclusion matters because NBA and EuroLeague commitments usually make such players unavailable during GB windows, so securing them marks a rare boost for British basketball.

GB face Switzerland away on Thursday and host Slovakia in Newcastle on Sunday, in the second of three preliminary qualifying rounds spread across August, November and February windows; finishing top of the group would send them into full EuroBasket qualifying, while anything less means an additional preliminary round next year. The fixtures fall between NBA and European seasons, allowing this rare alignment, and mark senior GB debuts for both Williams and Evbuomwan, who join fellow recent NBA player OG Anunoby among Britain's most prominent current talents. Steutel and GB general manager Dan Clark said years of relationship-building with the players lay behind the breakthrough.