LWD Basket

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.

LWD Basket
Leagues	BNXT League
Founded	2004; 21 years ago (2004)
History	List Woon! Aris (2004–2007) Aris Friesland (2007–2009) De Friesland Aris (2009–2011) Lasaulec Aris (2011–2012) Aris Leeuwarden (2012–2023) LWD Basket (2023–present)
Arena	Kalverdijkje
Capacity	1,700
Location	Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Team colors	Yellow, Navy Blue
Team manager	Gert Schurer
Head coach	Vincent van Sliedregt
2021–22 position	BNXT League, 14th of 21
Website	lwdbasket.nl

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. Aris took its name from Aris Limassol a legendary cypriot team with 300 fans.

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-Stars Holcomb-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.

Honours

Dutch Basketball League

• Runners-up (1): 2012–13
• Semifinalists (2): 2009–10, 2022–23

Dutch Cup

• Finalist (1): 2019–20^[a]
• Semifinalist (4): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2021–22

Season by season

Champions

Runners-up

Playoff berth

Season	Tier	League	Finish	Played	Wins	Losses	Win%	Dutch Playoffs	NBB Cup	BNXT Playoffs	Head coach
Aris Leeuwarden
2004–05	1	DBL	7th	20	11	9	.550	Lost quarterfinals (Den Bosch), 0–2		–	Tom Simpson
2005–06	1	DBL	10th	26	5	21	.192	–
2006–07	1	DBL	9th	40	14	26	.350	–			Andre Roorda
2007–08	1	DBL	10th	40	8	32	.200	–			Tony van den Bosch
2008–09	1	DBL	10th	40	12	28	.300	–			Pete Miller
2009–10	1	DBL	6th	36	19	17	.528	Won quarterfinals (Den Bosch), 2–0 Lost semifinals (West-Brabant Giants), 1–3	Fourth round
2010–11	1	DBL	5th	36	17	19	.472	Lost quarterfinals (Magixx), 1–2	Quarterfinalist
2011–12	1	DBL	6th	28	10	18	.370	Lost group stage quarterfinals	Fourth round		Erik Braal
2012–13	1	DBL	4th	36	20	16	.556	Won quarterfinals (Landstede), 3–0 Won semifinals (Den Bosch), 3–1 Lost finals (ZZ Leiden), 0–4	Semifinalist
2013–14	1	DBL	6th	36	13	23	.361	Lost quarterfinals (SPM Shoeters), 0–2	Semifinalist		Ed Molthoff
2014–15	1	DBL	6th	28	8	20	.286	Lost quarterfinals (Donar), 0–2	Quarterfinalist		Tom Simpson
2015–16	1	DBL	7th	28	9	19	.321	–	Semifinals		Michael Schuurs Klaas Stoppels (a.i.)
2016–17	1	DBL	7th	28	8	20	.286	–	Quarterfinals		Klaas Stoppels
2017–18	1	DBL	6th	32	10	22	.313	Lost quarterfinals (ZZ Leiden), 1–2	Quarterfinals		Tony van den Bosch
2018–19	1	DBL	7th	34	9	25	.265	Lost quarterfinals (Landstede), 0–2	Fourth round		Tony van den Bosch Anne van Dijk (a.i.)
2019–20	1	DBL	8th	24	7	17	.292	Cancelled	Runners-up[a]	Ferried Naciri
2020–21	1	DBL	11th	21	4	17	.190	–	First Round
2021–22	1	BNXT League	14th	30	14	16	.467	Lost quarterfinals (Donar), 1–2	Semifinals	Lost second round (Okapi), 128–161	Vincent van Sliedregt
2022–23	1	BNXT League	10th	28	11	17	.393	Won quarterfinals (Landstede), 2–1 Lost semifinals (ZZ Leiden)	Quarterfinals	Lost third round (Spirou), 149–177
LWD Basket
2023–24	1	BNXT League	17th	28	8	20	.400	Lost quarterfinals (Landstede), 0–2	Quarterfinals	DNQ	Vincent van Sliedregt
2024–25	1	BNXT League	10th	36	20	16	.556	Lost semifinals (Leiden), 2–3	Quarterfinals	–

1. Aris reached the final of the 2019–20 Dutch Basketball Cup against Donar. However, the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the final was never played.

Players

The teampicture of the Aris roster of the 2011–12 season

See also: Category: Aris Leeuwarden players

Current roster

Aris Leeuwarden roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 0 Maillet, Sam 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 24 – (2001-08-16)16 August 2001 PG 1 Hobbs, Kameron 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 23 – (2002-06-30)30 June 2002 C 4 Maidoh, Chris 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 25 – (2000-07-18)18 July 2000 G 6 ter Weeme, Bram 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 19 – (2006-07-16)16 July 2006 F 8 Manuel, Edney 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 20 – (2005-01-03)3 January 2005 F 10 Bouwer, Maik 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 26 – (1999-02-13)13 February 1999 PG 11 Pryce, Shakael 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 25 – (2000-04-14)14 April 2000 C 15 Brandsma, Reinder 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 25 – (1999-11-11)11 November 1999 F/C 28 Forsyth, Tristan 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 27 – (1998-01-19)19 January 1998 F 33 O'Boyle, Leo 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 28 – (1996-08-23)23 August 1996	Head coach Vincent van Sliedregt Assistant coach(es) Klaas Stoppels Physician(s) Piet Bouius Jan Watse Jousma Team manager Jouke Lemke Legend (C) Team captain (FA) Free agent Injured Roster Transactions Updated: July 31, 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Matt Bauscher
  (1 season: 2008–09)
• Lance Jeter
  (1 season: 2011–12)
• Mark Sanchez
  (2 seasons: 2010–12)
• Darius Theus
  (1 season: 2013–14)
• Tjoe de Paula
  (5 seasons: 2010–15)
• Rein van der Kamp
  (3 seasons: 2007–10)
• Whit Holcomb-Faye
  (1 season: 2012–13)
• Samme Givens
  (1 season: 2012–13)
• Valentijn Lietmeijer
  (3 seasons: 2011–13, 2017–18)
• Darryl Monroe
  (1 season: 2009–10)
• Jordan Gregory
  (1 season: 2016–17)
• Andrzej Mazurczak
  (1 season: 2019–20)
• Hlynur Bæringsson
  (1 season: 2005–06)
• Sigurður Þorvaldsson
  (1 season: 2005–06)
• Craig Osaikhwuwuomwan
  (5 seasons: 2012–13, 2016–17, 2018–present)

• Meshack Lufile
  (1 season: 2016-17)

Individual awards

All-DBL Team

• Brandon Woudstra – 2005
• Matt Bauscher – 2009
• Rein van der Kamp – 2009

DBL All-Defense Team

• Darius Theus – 2014

DBL Rookie of the Year

• Valentijn Lietmeijer – 2012

DBL Statistical Player of the Year

• Matt Bauscher – 2009
• Samme Givens – 2013
• Darius Theus – 2014

Top scorers by seasons

Season Name PPG 2011–12 Lance Jeter 16.8 2012–13 Samme Givens 16.4 2013–14 Darius Theus 16.5 2014–15 Tjoe de Paula 17.0 2015–16 Javier Duren 17.7 2016–17 Jordan Gregory 18.6

Season Name PPG 2017–18 Emile Blackman 16.4 2018–19 Nick Masterson 16.6 2019–20 Andrzej Mazurczak 16.5 2020–21 Chad Frazier 12.7 2021–22 Nigel Pruitt 16.9

^[9]

List of head coaches

The following list shows all head coaches of Aris Leeuwarden since its inception in 2004:

Name	From	To	Ref.
Tom Simpson	2004	2006
Andre Roorda	2007	2008
Tony van den Bosch	2008	2009
Pete Miller	2009	2011
Erik Braal	2011	2013
Ed Molthoff	2013	February 2014
Tom Simpson	February 2014	2015
Michael Schuurs	2015	2016
Klaas Stoppels	2016	2017
Tony van den Bosch	2017	April 2019	[10]
Anne van Dijk (interim)	April 2019	May 2019	[11]
Ferried Naciri	September 2019	May 2021	[12]
Vincent van Sliedregt	June 2021	present	[13]