Lehigh Valley Flight joins The Basketball League as new market team
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley Flight, a local, professional basketball team, announced its partnership with The Basketball League (TBL) on Nov. 1, marking the area as a new market for the league.
Anthony Jenkins, owner of the Lehigh Valley Flight, founded the organization five years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic in remembrance of his father, a former Jacksonville University basketball player who died in 2012.
“My goal is to be as big as the Iron Pigs,” Jenkins said, referring to the area’s Triple-A baseball team. “My goal is to one day have all of our games played at the PPL Center.”
The Basketball League, which began operating in North America in 2018 with eight teams and has since expanded to more than 40 teams as of 2024, serves as a pathway for players pursuing careers in the NBA G League or NBA.
Notable TBL alums include Lindy Waters III, who played for the Enid Outlaws in 2021 before earning a G League tryout with the Oklahoma City Blue and eventually signing with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
Waters, who is now with the San Antonio Spurs, averaged 12.6 points, 4.9 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game during his time in TBL.
The Flight previously competed in the Maximum Basketball League, where they won a divisional championship last year and advanced to the national final four.
The upcoming season, which begins in March 2026, will consist of 20 or 24 games, with the team traveling to Scranton, New York and New Jersey for away games. The Basketball League (TBL) operates six divisions across North America.
Jenkins will attend the league’s owners’ meeting, the combine, and the draft in Indianapolis in January. The team plans to hold tryouts in December, though it hasn’t announced specific dates. Interested players can follow Lehigh Valley Flight on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
The team currently includes local players George Williams and Nasir “BK” Ruhani as well as players from New Jersey and New York. Since the TBL announcement, Jenkins said he has received inquiries from players nationwide, including Texas, California, Georgia and Florida.
Jenkins, who moved to the area six years ago and has coached at several local institutions including Parkland High School, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Penn State Lehigh Valley, said he aims to build a fan base for professional basketball in a region traditionally focused on baseball and football.
The organization plans community engagement activities including toy drives, blood drives, feeding the homeless and youth basketball camps.
Jenkins has primarily self-funded the organization with support from small local sponsors.
He is now seeking investors and corporate backing to expand operations and compensate staff and players.
