After winning the National Basketball League for 10 consecutive seasons, it is looking very likely that the City Oilers may not win the title this season.

With their losing 5-6 record after the first round, the 10-time champions find themselves in 7th place with a big possibility of not making the playoffs.

Fun fact, 5 of the 6 Oilers defeats are at the hands of the top 5 teams.

Are they just mediocre? One will wonder.

The thing is, what we are seeing now did not start recently, these are fruits from seeds that were sown a while back.

A reliable source revealed that most of the challenges that the Oilers are experiencing started about 3 years ago.

All the talk of BAL money bringing fracas, players feeling they deserve more and so many other things are among things that are all true to a degree.

You see when Jimmy Enabu, James Okello, and Tonny Drileba left last year, it had been brewing for a while, and it had been planned to happen.

This caused a lot of turmoil but somehow, City Oilers managed to maneuver through it, winning all their remaining games and securing their 10th championship.

However, the problems did not get solved and that is how we are seeing the fallout between Ivan Muhwezi and the team.

Word on the street says more players were on their way out and we can confirm that Fayed almost moved to Rwanda.

With all this, the Oilers came into the 2025 season as one of the most intriguing teams and most people were very expectant of how the boys would perform.

In their first game, they came so close to winning but lost 81-80 to the Namuwongo Blazers and people were pleased with how they had performed.

Edgar Munaba carried the team in the fourth quarter and despite the loss, he caught the attention of many people.

However, in their second game, the Oilers lost to the JT Jaguars 64-74 and this was a disappointing performance.

The two problems in this game were the turnovers and the offensive rebounds.

JT registered 26 points from turnovers while City Oilers scored just 11.

The Jaguars also secured 11 more offensive rebounds than the City Oilers and outscored them 15-8 in second-chance points.

After that performance, there was a feeling that maybe there were bigger problems than earlier thought.

In the 2024 season, the younger players/ bench players, used to complain about the lack of playing time.

Fast forward to 2025, City Oilers did not make many big moves and all of a sudden, these guys had to step up.

Bolton Rujumba, Edgar Munaba, and Okumu Demunu were the only 3 signings.

With the absence of Fayed and Titus, the Oilers only had 9 players for the first 2 games and that meant everyone had a chance to impact the game.

In the game against Namuwongo, Munaba started strong and impressed with 24 points and 11 rebounds double-double.

Surprisingly, the other standout player was Ben Komakech, who finished with 18 points.

Others pretty much had average performances, but Benjamin Kawumi, who was trusted to point the ball, made 12 turnovers in 28 minutes,which was very bad for him.

In the next game, Benjamin was a no-show once again, as he scored just 2 points and made 4 turnovers in 22 minutes.

What this meant was that either Benjamin had to step up or the coach had to look elsewhere but with the time he gad gotten, the coach was not impressed.

In that game, the other players were also not as impactful coming off the bench and the coach heavily relied on Ben Komakech, Edgar Munaba, Joseph Chuma, and Rogers Dauna.

The guard position was a headache for the coach and when Fayed Baale returned, he got some relief.

The problem now shifted to, who is the secondary guard?

The immediate answer was Ben Komakech but if you think critically about it, Koma is aging and you can’t ask much of him.

But the Oilers found themselves in a situation where he was the only person who could deliver.

The others haven’t stepped up enough and even for a coach, it is very hard to know what to do about that.

The problem in the guard position is pretty much the same as in the other positions.

Rogers Dauna, Edgar Munaba, Malual, and Bolton have all been very inconsistent.

It is very hard to know what to expect from them on a given day and that is how other teams have been able to defeat them.

The team has over relied on Fayed since his return in terms of scoring and creating and it’s as though they have taken the backseat and become passengers.

In all 4 games they lost since Fayed returned, the Oilers have not had 3 players score double digits in a game.

In the losses to KCCA and Kampala Rockets, they had only 1 players score double digits.

This has been the most disappointing part about the team.

In all honesty, the players have failed to step up and play like champions.

The fact that they are signed to City Oilers, the management saw potential in them but when their moment to shine came, they failed to deliver.

No player has put their hand up to carry the team and as a result, they find themselves in such a deep hole.

Who can see them through it?

Many say that the potential new signings of the City Oilers could help see them through this dark valley.

However, let’s think about it for a moment, what if they don’t?

Then what next?

One thing for sure is, whether the potential new signings can help the team or not, it will be very hard for City Oilers to give their current players better contracts unless they turn things around in the second round.

If it gets worse from here, there’s a big possibility of City Oilers discarding the entire squad and starting afresh.

The City Oilers start their second round on 1st June against Livingstone.

They are yet to announce any new signings but according to Hudson Mugweri, the Oilers are in talks with Mer Maker and David Ikong.