Basketball stars Tony Lewis and Grant Johnson touched down in Bendigo from Chicago on Wednesday and have already hit the ground running, with the pair to join Braves training on Thursday.

Lewis, 25, is the reigning league MVP having played with Dandenong last season. 

He averaged 22.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in 2014.  

Several clubs were in the hunt for the six foot seven forward, but Lewis said the passion Braves head coach Ben Harvey had for his team, convinced him to ink a deal with Bendigo.  

“For me it is a new team, new challenges and new goals,” he said.

“It is just like starting all over again.

“Ben Harvey and his enthusiasm and the way he spoke about the team and the club, it made me want to be a part of it and become a Brave.

“I am excited.”

Lewis said he would bring some toughness to the team, something Harvey has admitted was missing from the Braves roster last year.

He said he hoped to replicate the impressive form he had with Dandenong with Bendigo.

“I am looking forward to the start of the season and getting to know the guys a little bit better and playing and competing,” Lewis said.

Lewis said he was confident the Braves would return to the play-offs after the Braves missed the finals for the first time in 10 years last season.

“That is going to change, we are going to make the play-offs,” he declared.  

His new team-mate, Johnson, is fresh from playing basketball in Finland.

The young gun will be playing in the SEABL for the first time, stepping up from the Big V competition.

He had some imposing figures for his team Sherbrooke, averaging a massive 27.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and three assists per game last season.

“I am looking forward to stepping up,” Johnson said.

“I was just playing in Finland and the basketball there was really good and I am looking forward to this league and the competition.”

The  Braves' first game of the SEABL season is against Ballarat on April 10.