The club joined NBL Division 2 in 1996, and quickly earned promotion to Division 1 in 1998 by claiming 3rd place in the league and the runner-up position in the playoffs.

The newly independent team competed for a year as the Islington White Heat, and were almost removed again when the NBL rebranded their upper rank as the NBL Conference.

The club's time in the short-lived NBL Conference saw little return for their efforts, never finishing above the bottom three.

By the time the English Basketball League was formed in 2003, the club had rebranded themselves again, becoming the Hackney White Heat.

The new league saw new, tougher rules for their upper tier, leaving Hackney no choice but to drop from the new EBL Division 1 into EBL Division 2 before a single game had tipped off.