2012–13 British Basketball League season vs. Newcastle Eagles Sheffield Sharks vs. Leicester Riders The 12 BBL clubs were joined by Essex Leopards and Reading Rockets of the English Basketball League and Edinburgh Kings of the Scottish Basketball League to form a straight knock-out competition. Following the withdrawal of East London Royals prior to the start of the competition, Worthing Thunder from the English Basketball League were invited to take their place and play Mersey Tigers in the 1st Round. The first two rounds featured one-off games whilst the Semi-finals took place over two legs. The Final was held at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow and
British Basketball League pairings drawn completely at random – there are no seeds, and a draw takes place after the majority of fixtures have been played in each round. When there is an uneven number of member clubs in the British Basketball League, some pre-selected teams receive byes into the next round. The Cup final is played at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, usually in early January. The BBL Trophy traces its origins back to a previous competition known as the Anglo-Scottish Cup – and subsequently the British Master's Cup – which was founded in 1984 and was initially a competition between teams