National Basketball League

Founded	2005; 19 years ago (2005)
First season	2005–06
Country	Lithuania
Confederation	FIBA Europe
Number of teams	15
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	LKL
Relegation to	RKL
Current champions	Jurbarkas-Karys (1st title) (2023/24)
Most championships	BC Sūduva-Mantinga (4 titles)
Website	nklyga.lt

The National Basketball League (NKL) (Lithuanian: Nacionalinė krepšinio lyga), also known as 7bet-NKL for sponsorship reasons, is the second-tier basketball minor league in Lithuania. It is placed below the top division Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL). The competition currently consists of 15 teams.^[1] The champions of the league have the option to promote to the LKL. However, this rarely happens, as most clubs do not meet the requirements for budget and seating capacity.

History

The league was established in 2005, when the second division LKAL (Lietuvos Krepšinio A Lyga, Lithuanian Basketball A League) was abolished and split into two divisions, the NKL, which is its direct successor, and the newly founded third division RKL.

Current teams

Delikatesas

Atletas

Žalgiris-2

Neptūnas-Akvaservis

Kretinga

Jurbarkas-Karys

Olimpas
(Pal)

Olimpas
(Plu)

Telšiai

Šilutė

Sūduva-Mantinga

Perlas

Rytas-2

Stekas

Vytis-VDU

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2024–25 NKL clubs' locations.

League champions

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Third Place	Ref.
2005–06	Akademija-MRU Vilnius	Nafta-Uni-Laivitė Klaipėda	Puntukas-Jarimpeksas Anykščiai	[5][6]
2006–07	Nafta-Uni-Laivitė Klaipėda	Dextera Jonava	Meresta Pakruojis	[7][8]
2007–08	Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school Kaunas	Naglis-Adarkis Palanga	Dextera Jonava	[9][10]
2008–09	Rūdupis Prienai	Meresta Pakruojis	Mažeikiai	[11][12]
2009–10	Naglis-Adarkis Palanga	Malsta Jonava	Mažeikiai	[13]
2010–11	Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys	Mažeikiai	Nafta-Universitetas Klaipėda	[14][15]
2011–12	LKKA-Atletas Kaunas	Statyba Vilnius	Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school Kaunas	[16][17]
2012–13	Mažeikiai	Dzūkija Alytus	Žalgiris-2 Kaunas	[18]
2013–14	Mažeikiai	Trakai	Tiumenas-Ežerūnas Molėtai	[19]
2014–15	Nafta-Uni-Akvaservis Klaipėda	Ežerūnas-Karys Molėtai	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	[20][21]
2015–16	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	Žalgiris-2 Kaunas	Palanga	[22][23]
2016–17	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	Nafta-Uni-Akvaservis Klaipėda	Vytis Šakiai	[24][25]
2017–18	Neptūnas-Akvaservis Klaipėda	Žalgiris-2 Kaunas	Vytis Šakiai	[26][25]
2018–19	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	Vytis Šakiai	BC Telšiai	[27][28]
2019–20	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	BC Telšiai	BC Šilutė	[29]
2020–21	Cbet Jonava	BC Telšiai	Vytis Šakiai	[30][31]
2021–22	Gargždai	Sūduva-Mantinga Marijampolė	BC Telšiai	[32][33]
2022–23	Žalgiris-2 Kaunas	M Basket Mažeikiai	BC Telšiai	[34][35]
2023–24	Jurbarkas-Karys	Kretinga	Olimpas Palanga	[36]

Titles by club

† Marks defunct former winners of the competition.

References

External links

• Official website of National Basketball League (in Lithuanian)