Following the Rebels' move to Stevenage, a brand-new team, Ware Fire, was established and admitted to NBL Division 3 for the 1997–98 season.

After destroying Birmingham University 117–71 in Play-off Quarter-finals, Ware were comfortably beaten in their first Semi-final appearance, losing 84–72 away to Division champions Doncaster Eagles.

The post-season Play-off's saw a rematch of the previous season's Semi-final match-up against Doncaster, though the new and improved Ware swept them aside with a 92–54 home victory in the Quarter-final.

Finishing 10th out of the 12 teams competing, Ware could only put together 4 victories out of 22 games, whilst missing out on the Play-off's for the first time in the club's history.

[2] Two months later, Williamson along with teammates Hayden Herrin and Ben Wallis, combined to score 21 three-pointers in a 116–105 defeat to Worthing Thunder, setting a new NBL/EBL record.

In front of a packed National Indoor Arena in Birmingham the Leopards defeated Reading Rockets 79–75 and claim the club's first-ever piece of silverware.

The Leopards reached the Quarter-final in the National Cup, but were narrowly beaten by Worthing Thunder in a close 77–79 home defeat.

A 74–71 win at home to Coventry Crusaders meant that for the first time in the club's history, they had won a Play-off game and advanced to the Semi-finals and the Final Four's weekend at the Amaechi Centre in Manchester.

An early exit in the Trophy in a group that contained Reading and London Mets was quickly forgotten after a promising run of results in the National Cup.

Victories against Milton Keynes Lions II, Hackney White Heat, London Westside and Brixton TopCats saw Leopards earn a place in the Semi-finals for only the second time in the franchise's history, but in a repeat of Leopards' Play-off Semi-final clash last season, the London side were defeated by Manchester 69–77.

The new-look team enjoyed their best season yet in the League and also another encouraging run in the Trophy, after overcoming the group stage including wins over Brixton and London Capital (after the team failed to fulfil a fixture), Leopards progressed through the 1st Knockout Round with a comfortable 78–56 away win over Bristol to progress to the Semi-final.

Unfortunately poor free-throw shooting contributed to a disappointing Semi-final exit at the hands of Reading at the Amaechi Centre in Manchester.

[11] Mihevc's first move as new Head Coach was to resign last season's MVP Ousman Krubally, whilst bringing-in Lithuanian Vilius Šumskis and former young star Lukas Volskis.

[12] In November 2011 the Leopards organisation announced that they were intending to apply for a British Basketball League franchise, bidding to return to the top flight as soon as the 2012–13 season.

American point guard Vernon Teel won the MVP award in both finals and completed a hat-trick by taking the Division honour, while teammate Krubally was runner-up for the second straight season.

Derby Trailblazers were hammered in the quarter-final before a fine performance from American guard Simon Cummings saw Leopards win at Hemel Storm in the semi-final.

With Hernandez and former England international Taner Adu suffering early season injuries, Leopards’ defence of the Division One title never really got going, but they slowly moved up the table and a pair of victories in the north east over the final weekend of the season saw them grab and improbable fourth-place finish and home court advantage in the play-offs.

[14] The Big Cats secured the Division One title after beating the only remaining challengers Team Northumbria 84–72 in a must-win game at Brentwood Centre.