The two-year deal will include a minimum of one full page per month dedicated to the British men's and women's teams.

 

The paper will also provide "substantial" coverage of the men's summer campaign, Game On, which will see Britain play Israel, Turkey and Poland at The O2 in August.

 

Simon Tuckey, the commercial director of British Basketball, the only national governing body to have a relationship with a national title, says the deal will increase media coverage.

 

He said: "I call us the big-little sport.

 

"We are big in terms of our participation, particularly in the adult sector, but not in terms of the way we are reported in the papers and across the media."

 

The deal comes four months after UK Sport announced it would increase British Basketball's funding to £8.75 million in the run up to London 2012.

 

Dominic Hart, sports editor at the Daily Mirror, said the sport's popularity could be boosted by the London Games.

 

He said: "There is no doubt that, just as happened in Beijing and in previous Games, some sports will be catapulted to a massive national and international audience like never before.

 

"One of those, I believe, will be basketball".