The 2026 National Basketball League (NBL) is about 30 days away and a lot of changes are expected to be seen.

One particular club that has many eyes on them is the City Oilers. The 10-time champions were finally dethroned by the Namuwongo Blazers after their 10-year reign.

To be honest, a validate argument can be made that the Oilers not winning the championship was good for the league.

However, for them, they must have been disappointed given that despite all the turmoil and bad regular season, they found themselves up 2-0 in the finals series before bottling that lead.

The question is, what next?

This is a question that is on the minds of very many people. They all can’t wait to see what move that the 10-time champions make.

There is a lot of speculation pertaining what is in the Oilers camp, but one thing we know for sure is that they know how to keep a secret.

They hold their cards to their chest so tight that it is hard to predict their next move.

However, we are going to discuss some of the directions that they can take and anylse them.

1. Starting afresh (Rebuilding)

Rebuilding a team is one of the most difficult things in sports more so for a team that has been used to winning. It requires a lot of patience and experimentation and is often frustrating.

However, if it works, they may pay off 100 fold or more and may save the team a lot of money while delivering success.

One of the reasons why the City Oilers stayed on top for so long is that they had a core and an identity.

Jimmy Enabu, James Okello, Tony Drileba and Ivan Muhwezi won for the team so many championships and when they left, the impact of their departure was seismic.

To get the next group of guys like those seems like an impossible task but if you are intentional, you can identify some young talent, experiment with them over the years and at some point, you may find the right combinations.

Given the resources that the Oilers have, they are capable of attracting the best prospects but the question is, do they have the patience to wait?

Success to the Oilers has always been a championship but can they be willing to lower their expectation? If yes, for how long?

Rumours have it that about 5 players, including Chad Bowie, Kurt Curry, who came for the 2025 NBL playoffs, have been released.

This means that there is a lot of space at the City Oilers and young players can get their opportunities to play and develop.

With the leadership of Fayed Baale and Titus Lual, these young players can be guided, their skills and confidence also improved.

2. Getting hired guns

The second option for the Oilers is to get some hired guns. By this, I mean people who come (mostlyfrom across the borders), play (do their part) and leave.

Things concerning team growth and the future of the club will not concern them. They are there for business and that’s it.

An example of this is Chad Bowie and Kurt Curry who came to play in the 2025 NBL playoffs. They had a mission and that was what they were focusing on.

You can bring in such at the beginning of the season or midway the season and they will perform for you. However, it is very costly.

The team has to incur heavy costs on salaries, transport allowances, accommodation, sometimes food and other things.

To sustain this throughout the season is very expensive more so if they don’t deliver the championship.

As already stated, all the City Oilers have known, for their entire time in the NBL, is winning the championship.

When you bring in these hired guns, do they guarantee you the championship as that’s the only way to justify that expenditure.

What if you don’t win this year, can you do the same thing next year?

3. Assembling the best in the land

The Namuwongo Blazers have tried this method and it finally delivered for them a championship.

It is hard to say that they have a core but they made sure to attract the best players in the land and this worked for them. City Oilers can borrow a leaf from that.

If they can be able to convince some of the best players in the country to join their team, this could be less costly than the hired guns, and could produce results (winning the championship) in a short span.

The problem with this is that the team will always keep changing. Stability is never guaranteed.

4. Gamble (Roll the dice)

Finally, the Oilers can just gamble.

By this I mean, they can get whoever they get their hands on, put them in the team and hope that they can take them to the playoffs.

While at the business end of the season, they can be able to bring in some reinforcements and fight to see if they can win the championship.

As of now, we have no idea what the City Oilers have done but they have already taken a certain route and have some targets set for the 2026 season.

This will be a very key year in their history more so regarding the chances for them to bounce back or slipping further away from the giant that they were.

An unconfirmed rumor has it that they got some land and are looking to build and Arena.

Also, some of the City Oilers management, Hajji Santur and Ahmed Hassan together with the NCS Chairperson, Ambrose Tashobya, were seen at the Makerere University Indoor court on 17th December, 2025 and it is rumoured that it could be their new home ground.

The 2026 NBL season is expected to tip-off on 6th February and player registration is currently on-going.