LWD Basket is a Dutch professional basketball club based in Leeuwarden. Founded as Aris Leeuwarden in 2004, the club competes in the BNXT League, and has competed at the highest national level since its foundation. The team plays its home games at the Kalverdijkje.
The most notable successes are reaching the DBL finals in 2013 and the NBB Cup final in 2020.
History
The parent club was actually founded in 1992, when the clubs Sporty and Ymir merged into BV Aris. In 2004 the professional team was founded, when the team promoted from the Promotiedivisie – the Dutch second-tier league – to the Eredivisie. The team, coached by Tom Simpson, was named Woon!Aris for sponsorship reasons and reached the Playoffs in its first season. After then, the team failed to reach the postseason for four seasons. In 2009–10, Aris, then named De Friesland Aris, reached the playoff semi-finals for the first time.
In the 2012–13 season, Aris was in financial trouble after it lost their main sponsor Lasaulec.[1] Despite these circumstances Aris' squad – which included All-StarsHolcomb-Faye and Givens – reached the DBL Finals. Rival #1 seed Den Bosch was knocked out of the tournament 3–1 in the semi-finals. In the Finals Aris played ZZ Leiden and lost 0–4 to the #2 seed of the regular season.[2]
Before the start of the 2013–14 Aris signed a new main sponsor in Univé, which guaranteed the existence of the team despite its ongoing financial struggles.[3] The capacity of Kalverdijkje was also increased from 800 to 1,700 to further increase the stability for the club's future.[4]
In the 2019–20 season, Aris reached the final of the Dutch Basketball Cup for the first time in history under head coach Ferried Naciri.[5] The final, however, was never played as the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The final, which was to be played against Donar, was cancelled as well after no new date could be found.[6]
Since the 2021–22 season, Aris plays in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.[7] During the 2022–23 season, Aris reached the semi-finals for a third time in history.
At the end of the 2022–23 season, it was revealed that the club was in financial difficulties. The BNXT organisation denied the club’s first application for a licence. To resolve the issues, the stichting behind the club was resolved and a new club was founded in a besloten vennootschap by the three members of the board, Johan Meijer, Gert Schrurer and Paul de Jong. The new name of the phoenix club was decided to be LWD Basket, with LWD being an abbreviation for Leeuwarden.[8] LWD Basket adopted new club colours, blue and yellow, which it lends from the flag of the city.
