Statement from Head Coach Atiba Lyons

Sheffield, UK - 18th March 2025

First and foremost, I want to thank Vaughn Millette for taking a very bold stance on my behalf and on behalf of anyone in our sport that looks like me. It is not an attack on one person but on a system of choosing to ignore valid complaints.

I have been in this league since 2008 and it has given me so much and I will always be grateful for the fans and the years of fierce healthy competition. 

I have been a player and now I am a coach and a proud owner in SLB. 

I have however since 2018 had some very unfortunate instances as a coach that has made my job at times challenging. 

In recent years i have expressed my concerns to all the proper channels to address the differences in the way I am treated and managed to my coaching counterparts throughout the league. I have made representations with officials and league officials with genuine pain, sadness and frustration and asked why am I being treated differently. 

The answer has been ‘well Atiba you know the other coaches are harmless and you are more frightening’. As if that is totally reasonable and I should accept that and move on. 

I am a competitor and have emotions, but I am in no way violent. 

I look like and I am the same size as the very athletes your kids support and look up to. I look like the youth coaches that are helping develop our youngsters and instilling self-belief and confidence in your sons, daughters, grandchildren etc. 

In certain circumstances my harsh treatment has led to me becoming as sedate as possible on the sideline to avoid punishment so I don’t detract from my players hard work and the fans can cheer the team on without leaving with a feeling of ‘something isn’t fair’. 

More importantly I do it to avoid the mental anguish and avoid being triggered. 

I grew up in a place where, as a child, my windows were shot out of our family home for moving into an all-white neighbourhood. I have been stopped and frisked in front of my home in Brooklyn by police. I don’t talk about racism or unconscious bias lightly and I don’t need it to make excuses. Frankly, I have survived much more than being ejected from a basketball game or losing a game. 

However, this is the UK! I was made to believe it was progressive. I was led to believe you cared about minorities and the BAME community. I was led to believe that basketball is a vehicle in this country to make a change and impact. So why wouldn’t anyone listen when I went through all the proper channels?

Vaughn on his own merit has decided it is not right to have a black man made to feel unheard by a sport that says they champion black people. He wasn’t asked by me, and this isn’t a plan. He spoke from a genuine place because he saw what it was doing to me mentally and emotionally.  

That speaks for his character and his commitment to have the difficult conversations in a world where something like this is easily ignored. 

I promise you my frustrations aren’t unique. 

In closing, this is not an ‘all’ or ‘everyone’ problem.  I hope this is taken in the manner it is intended. It is not to cause harm or cast a shadow over the referees, table officials and administrators who have grown this sport and are good decent people.

That said, you can’t separate the principle of Vaughn’s comments from the fact that we have raised the issue on numerous occasions, and it has not been dealt with, that in itself is a bias. So, in consideration of moving forward remember that is it is not ok to accept any racial bias as a priority and it is more important than any other point.

An injustice to one is an injustice to all.