The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) announced Thursday that the 2021 CEBL U SPORTS Draft results will be revealed Thursday, April 14, 2021 on CEBL.ca as well as through the league’s social media channels.

Representatives of the seven clubs will convene through a virtual platform for the three-round draft prior to their selections being made public April 14. The order of selection will be in the reverse order of finish by the teams during the 2020 CEBL Summer Series .

As was the case in 2020, draft eligible U SPORTS players may have completed their university eligibility in 2020-21, or they may be returning to their university team in the fall and be classified within the CEBL’s U SPORTS Developmental player program. They must qualify as Canadian, and they must have completed at least one full year of eligibility at their U SPORTS institution. Each CEBL club must have at least one U SPORTS player on its 10-man active roster at all times. 

Order for Round 1:

• Saskatchewan Rattlers
• Niagara River Lions
• Guelph Nighthawks
• Ottawa BlackJacks
• Hamilton Honey Badgers
• Fraser Valley Bandits
• Edmonton Stingers

Order for Round 2:

• Edmonton Stingers
• Fraser Valley Bandits
• Hamilton Honey Badgers
• Ottawa BlackJacks
• Guelph Nighthawks
• Niagara River Lions
• Saskatchewan Rattlers

Order for Round 3:

• Same as Round 1

The CEBL led the NHL, NBA and later the CPL in  returning to play in Canada  after the coronavirus shut down the sports world in March of 2020. The  CEBL Summer Series  put professional basketball on the television and digital screens of millions of viewers across Canada and around the world, establishing the league as the top Canadian-based global team sports brand. The 2021 season , set to start June 5, will build on that momentum with an expanded viewing audience around the world, and locally through an innovative approach to addressing the uncertainties due to the pandemic around having fans in arenas across the league. 

A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 80 percent of its 2020 rosters being Canadians. Players come from the NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA and U SPORTS programs. It uses FIBA (International Basketball Federation) rules, and player and referee standards set by its partner, Canada Basketball. The CEBL became the first professional basketball league in the world to use the Elam Ending in FIBA competition when it incorporated the innovative conclusion into all of its games during the 2020 CEBL Summer Series .

More information about the CEBL may be found at  CEBL.ca , as well as on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Quotes:

“There is a tremendous pool of basketball talent all across this country and U SPORTS programs continue to develop so many of our best Canadian stars. With what has been a difficult year for all we hope the upcoming U SPORTS draftees will look forward with some excitement to see where they land for the upcoming 2021 CEBL season. It will be great to see these rising stars of tomorrow making the most out of their opportunity to learn from and play alongside our top professionals in the CEBL,” said Mike Morreale , Commissioner & CEO of the CEBL. 

“We are very excited for the third annual CEBL-U SPORTS Draft,” said Lisette Johnson-Stapley, Chief Sport Officer at U SPORTS. “Over the past two seasons, the CEBL has provided U SPORTS student-athletes the unique opportunity to pursue their professional basketball careers playing in their home country leading to tremendous growth of basketball in Canada.”

Media Contacts:

CEBL

Ansh Sanyal
Director, Brand & Marketing
[email protected]

U SPORTS

John Bower
Director, Marketing and Communications

[email protected]  / 905-508-3000 Ext. 241 

About U SPORTS

U SPORTS is the national brand for university sports in Canada. Every year, over 14,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U SPORTS also provides high performance international opportunities at FISU Winter and Summer University Games, World University Championships, University World Cups and various educational initiatives.

U SPORTS works in collaboration with 56 members and four conferences as well as the Canadian sport system and Corporate Canada on the growth and delivery of university sport to student-athletes across the country.