The 2020–21 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL). Žalgiris achieved their 23rd title overall, eleven consecutive.
Competition format During the regular season, all teams play 36 games. The top eight teams in the regular season standings, after playing their entire 36 game schedule, qualified for the playoffs in the quarterfinals, that was played in a best-of-three games format. The semifinals were played in best-of-three format.
The final round was played between the two winners of the semifinals. The finals series, for first place, as also games for third place were played in a best-of-five format.
Notable events On 30 September 2020, the LKL has reached a historic agreement - LKL will be broadcast in foreign countries for the first time since its establishment. On 9 October 2020, the LKL decided that the match between Žalgiris and Nevėžis-Optibet on 11 October 2020 and the match between Juventus and Alytus Dzūkija on 10 October 2020 are postponed. On 27 October 2020, the LKL Board has decided how to deal with the spread of COVID-19 infection and how the LKL championship matches will take place. The minimum number of players in a team in order to play a match is 8 players, if there is no such number of players in the team, the match will be suspended and postponed to the next date. On 27 April 2021, the LKL board decided that 11 teams will participate in the tournament for the next 2021-22 LKL season. Next season, a team from NKL Cbet Jonava, which won the NKL title this year, will join LKL. The team that will take last place this season will not relegate to NKL. On 7 June 2021, the last match of the Betsafe-LKL final series took place. Žalgiris won the Betsafe-LKL title, it is already the 23rd Žalgiris title and the 11th consecutive title.
Teams
Location and arenas
Ten teams were granted licences for the 2020–21 LKL season.
Team Location Arena Capacity Cbet Prienai Prienai Prienai Arena1,500 Dzūkija Alytus Alytus Arena5,500 Juventus Utena Utena Arena2,000 Lietkabelis Panevėžys Cido Arena5,950 Neptūnas Klaipėda Švyturys Arena6,200 Nevėžis-OPTIBET Kėdainiai Kėdainiai Arena2,200 Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys Pieno žvaigždės Arena1,500RytasVilnius Jeep Arena 2,500 Avia Solutions Group Arena10,000 Šiauliai Šiauliai Šiauliai Arena5,700 Žalgiris Kaunas Žalgiris Arena15,708
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced with Date of appointment Nevėžis-OPTIBET Marius Kiltinavičius Mutual consent 29 November 2020 6th (5–5) David Gale 7 December 2020 Rytas Donaldas Kairys Sacked 16 January 2021 3rd (9–5) Giedrius Žibėnas 1 February 2021
Regular season
League table
Results
Play–offs
Quarterfinals will be played in a best–of–three games format, while semifinals and the finals in a best–of–five format.
Bracket
Lithuanian clubs in European competitions Team Competition Progress Žalgiris EuroLeague 11th Lietkabelis EuroCup Regular season Rytas Champions League Regular season
Awards All official awards of the 2020–21 LKL season.
Regular Season MVP PlayerTeamSource PG Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai
LKL Finals MVP PlayerTeamSource PG Thomas Walkup Žalgiris
Other awards AwardPlayerTeamSource Gentleman of the year Arnas Butkevičius Rytas Breakthrough of the year Margiris Normantas Lietkabelis The best defensive player Thomas Walkup Žalgiris The best young player Rokas Jokubaitis Žalgiris
Best coach of the season CoachTeamSource Mantas Šernius Cbet Prienai
All-LKL Teams First Team Elvar Már FriðrikssonŠiauliai Vaidas KariniauskasJuventus Mindaugas SušinskasCbet Prienai Gytis MasiulisLietkabelis Joffrey LauvergneŽalgiris
Source:
Player of the month Month Player Team PIR Source 2020 September Demetrius Jackson Rytas 22 October Regimantas Miniotas Cbet Prienai 30.5 November Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 27 December Edgaras Želionis Pieno žvaigždės 26 2021 January Žygimantas Skučas Juventus 22.7 February Vaidas Kariniauskas Juventus 26.5 March Tomas Lekūnas Pieno žvaigždės 23.2 April Mindaugas Kupšas Juventus 25.6
Statistics Individual statistics Rating RankNameTeamGamesRatingPIR1. Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 36 700 19.442. Julius Kazakauskas Nevėžis-OPTIBET 32 592 18.503. Mindaugas Kupšas Juventus 46 841 18.28 Source: LKL.LT
Points RankNameTeamGamesPointsPPG1. Vaidas Kariniauskas Juventus 28 465 16.612. Kyle Vinales Lietkabelis 36 578 16.063. Sedrick Barefield Nevėžis-OPTIBET 28 434 15.50 Source: LKL.LT
Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesReboundsRPG1. Julius Kazakauskas Nevėžis-OPTIBET 32 297 9.282. Giedrius Staniulis Dzūkija 25 191 7.643. Ariel Hukporti Nevėžis–OPTIBET 21 155 7.38 Source: LKL.LT
Assists RankNameTeamGamesAssistsAPG1. Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 36 271 7.632. Žygimantas Janavičius Neptūnas 31 202 6.523. Vaidas Kariniauskas Juventus 28 173 6.18 Source: LKL.LT
Other statistics CategoryPlayerTeamGamesAverage Steals Margiris Normantas Lietkabelis 37 1.86 Blocks Ariel Hukporti Nevėžis–OPTIBET 21 1.24 Turnovers Vaidas Kariniauskas Juventus 28 3.82 Fouls drawn Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 36 5.11 Minutes Mindaugas Sušinskas Cbet Prienai 36 32:21 FT % Andrew Goudelock Rytas 36 92.73% 2-Point % Kaspars Bērziņš Šiauliai 23 73.40% 3-Point % Gytis Radzevičius Rytas 43 51.69% Source: LKL.LT
Individual game highs CategoryPlayerTeamStatistic Opponent Rating Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 51 Pieno žvaigždės (Apr 21, 2021) Points Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 33 Pieno žvaigždės (Apr 21, 2021) Rebounds Julius Kazakauskas Nevėžis-OPTIBET 18 Rytas (May 8, 2021) Assists Elvar Már Friðriksson Šiauliai 17 Neptūnas (May 7, 2021) Steals Margiris Normantas Lietkabelis 7 Juventus (Jan 13, 2021) Blocks Ariel Hukporti Nevėžis-OPTIBET 4 Rytas (May 8, 2021) Source: LKL.LT
Team statistics CategoryTeamAverage Rating Žalgiris 112.89 Points Žalgiris 91.66 Rebounds Nevėžis-OPTIBET 37.22 Assists Žalgiris 23.23 Steals Lietkabelis 8.43 Blocks Juventus 3.22 Turnovers Nevėžis-OPTIBET 17.00 FT % Žalgiris 81.09% 2-Point % Juventus 60.89% 3-Point % Žalgiris 42.27% Source: LKL.LT
References
External links LKL website