Italy - LBA Serie A 2023-2024 Leaders

Top averages

Italy - LBA Serie A 2023-2024 Records

Top single game performances

Basketball league

ITALY - LBA SERIE A 🇮🇹

Country: Italy
Location: Europe
Demography: 59M (2021)
Spoken language: Italian
Largest cities: Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo
Regular-season schedule: September to April

Italy LBA

The Lega Basket Serie A is Italy's top basketball division. The 18 teams are playing a home and away 34 games regular season, followed by playoffs for the best 8 squads.

The league has a rich history as it was founded in 1920. Some of the most iconic clubs in Europe come from Italy. Olimpia Milano is a powerhouse of the Euroleague and won a record 28 championships, scudetti in Italian.

In the 70's and 80's, Lega Basket was regarded as the number one league on the Continent. Its teams captured 10 out of 20 Euroleague titles over the two decades, thanks to legendary clubs like Varese, Cantu, Milano or Roma. The league also attracted high profile US players. Mike D'Antoni, Bob McAdoo, Darryl Dawkins, Danny Ferry or Brian Shaw started or finished their career in Italy. Brazilian sharpshooter Oscar Schmidt played eleven seasons in the league averaging 34.6 points per game and ranks second on the all-time scoring list behind Antonello Riva.

The rivalry of Bologna between Virtus and Fortitudo or the growth of Benetton Treviso, which produced the first ever European born first pick in the NBA draft, Andrea Bargnani, captured the imagination in the 90's. As countries became more competitive financially and the role of homegrown Italian players decreased, Lega Basket lost some of its luster.

Milano, sponsored by fashion guru and basketball superfan Giorgio Armani has been a dominant force in the past few years.

How does the LBA Serie A work?

The Lega Basket Serie A, or LBA Serie A, is the first division of the Italian basketball championship. It is organized by the Italian Basketball League (Italian: Lega Società di Pallacanestro). Like many basketball leagues in the world, this championship is divided into two phases: a regular season and playoffs. 

From October to May, the teams compete in a back-and-forth game. For each day, according to the rules, 2 points are awarded to the winning team and none to the losing team. At the end of the regular season, the 8 best teams are admitted to the play-offs. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are played to the best of 5 games, while the final is played over 7 games. The winning team is proclaimed the Italian champion.

However, the last team in the standings is relegated to the second division, called Serie A2, and is replaced by the winner of the playoffs of this second division.

Is there a team with more titles than the others?

16 teams compete for the title of Italian champion every year. But the team with the most titles in the Italian basketball elite is none other than Olimpia Milano, which has won the Lega Basket Serie A 28 times. This same club also has 82 consecutive appearances in this championship, since the 1937-1938 season. A record.

Last 5 Italy LBA Champions

Reyer Venezia (2019, 2017), Olimpia Milano (2018, 2016), Dinamo Sassari (2015)

All-Time Best Italy LBA Basketball Players

Dino Meneghin, Pierluigi Marzorati, Antonello Riva, Mario Boni, Walter Magnifico, Riccardo Pittis, Carlton Myers, Gregor Fucka, Gianmarco Pozzecco, Gianluca Basile

From Italy LBA to the NBA

Danilo Gallinari, Marco Belinelli, Luigi Datome, Andrea Bargnani, Vincenzo Esposito, Stefano Rusconi