The 2021–22 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL). Žalgiris was defending champions.
For the first time since league's inception, Žalgiris failed to reach finals, after losing semifinal series to Lietkabelis 3–1
Rytas after 12 years break won Betsafe–LKL championship and achieved their 6th title overall. Teams Location and arenas
On 27 April 2021, during 2020–21 LKL season LKL board decided to expand the number of participating teams in tournament. The number of teams has been expanded to 11 teams. 2020-21 NKL season champions Cbet Jonava will join the other 10 LKL teams.
Team Location Arena Capacity Cbet Jonava Jonava Jonava Arena2,200 Dzūkija Alytus Alytus Arena5,500 Labas Gas Prienai Prienai Arena1,500 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-7bet Šiauliai Šiauliai Arena5,700 Uniclub Casino – Juventus Utena Utena Arena2,000 Žalgiris Kaunas Žalgiris Arena15,415
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced with Date of appointment Nevėžis–OPTIBET Marius Kiltinavičius Signed by Sūduva-Mantinga 21 June 2021 Pre-season Gediminas Petrauskas 21 June 2021 Pieno žvaigždės Gediminas Petrauskas Signed by Nevėžis–OPTIBET 21 June 2021 Mantas Šernius 22 June 2021 Labas Gas Mantas Šernius Signed by Pieno žvaigždės 22 June 2021 Marius Leonavičius 16 August 2021 Dzūkija Nikola Vasilev Mutual consent 15 August 2021 Ramūnas Cvirka 15 August 2021 Žalgiris Martin Schiller Sacked 08 October 2021 1st (4–0) Jure Zdovc 08 October 2021 Neptūnas Tomas Gaidamavičius Mutual consent 11 December 2021 9th (2–7) Dainius Adomaitis 18 December 2021 Uniclub Casino – Juventus Žydrūnas Urbonas Resigned 30 March 2022 6th (11–12) Žalgiris Jure Zdovc Mutual consent 11 April 2022 2nd (22–3) Kazys Maksvytis 11 April 2022
Regular season League table
Results
Playoffs
Quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in a best–of–five games format, while the finals and third place in a best–of–seven format. Bracket
Final standings
Attendance Average attendances
Awards All official awards of the 2021-22 LKL season.
Regular Season MVP PlayerTeamSource C Ivan Buva Rytas
LKL Finals MVP PlayerTeamSource SF\PF Arnas Butkevičius Rytas
All-LKL Team PlayerTeamSource Lukas Lekavičius Žalgiris Jon Elmore Šiauliai-7bet Arnas Butkevičius Rytas Gediminas Orelik Lietkabelis Ivan Buva Rytas
Coach of the Year PlayerTeamSource Giedrius Žibėnas Rytas
Best Defender PlayerTeamSource Vytenis Lipkevičius Lietkabelis
Breakthrough of the Year PlayerTeamSource Panagiotis Kalaitzakis Lietkabelis
Player of the month Month Player Team PIR Source 2021 September Jon Elmore Šiauliai–7bet 19.7 October Patrick Miller Uniclub Casino – Juventus 28 November Giedrius Staniulis Šiauliai-7bet 26 December Đorđe Gagić Lietkabelis 26.3 2022 January Manu Lecomte Cbet Jonava 28 February Manu Lecomte Cbet Jonava 32.5 March Ivan Buva Rytas 21 April Juan Palacios Cbet Jonava 27.6
Statistics Individual statistics Rating RankNameTeamGamesRatingPIR1. Ivan Buva Rytas 34 626 18.412. Patrick Miller Uniclub Casino – Juventus 29 531 18.313. Amar Sylla Nevėžis–OPTIBET 29 498 17.17 Source: LKL.LT
Points RankNameTeamGamesPointsPPG1. Patrick Miller Uniclub Casino – Juventus 29 520 17.932. Ivan Buva Rytas 34 560 16.473. Deividas Gailius Neptūnas 31 500 16.13 Source: LKL.LT
Rebounds RankNameTeamGamesReboundsRPG1. Amar Sylla Nevėžis-OPTIBET 29 221 7.622. Juan Palacios Cbet Jonava 24 182 7.583. Benas Griciūnas Neptūnas 34 229 6.74 Source: LKL.LT
Assists RankNameTeamGamesAssistsAPG1. Žygimantas Janavičius Neptūnas 32 219 6.842. Speedy Smith Rytas 40 229 5.733. Jon Elmore Šiauliai–7bet 30 165 5.50 Source: LKL.LT
Other statistics CategoryPlayerTeamGamesAverage Steals Randy Culpepper Pieno žvaigždės 18 2.50 Blocks Amar Sylla Nevėžis–OPTIBET 29 2.17 Turnovers Ignas Sargiūnas Labas Gas 30 2.87 Fouls drawn Patrick Miller Uniclub Casino – Juventus 29 5.24 Minutes Arnas Beručka Pieno žvaigždės 31 33:23 FT % Mindaugas Girdžiūnas Rytas 24 90.24% 2-Point % Edgaras Želionis Neptūnas 32 71.32% 3-Point % Lukas Lekavičius Žalgiris 36 47.46% Source: LKL.LT
Individual game highs CategoryPlayerTeam OpponentStatistic Rating Ivan Buva Rytas Cbet Jonava (Jan 13, 2022) 49 Points Juan Palacios Cbet Jonava Labas Gas (Apr 27, 2022) 36 Rebounds Juan Palacios Cbet Jonava Šiauliai–7bet (Mar 6, 2022) 18 Assists Vaidas Kariniauskas Rytas Nevėžis–OPTIBET (Feb 13, 2022) 15 Steals Markell Johnson Pieno žvaigždės Nevėžis–OPTIBET (Nov 20, 2021) 6 Randy Culpepper Pieno žvaigždės Labas Gas (Mar 27, 2022) Juan Palacios Cbet Jonava Šiauliai–7bet (May 6, 2022) Blocks Amar Sylla Nevėžis–OPTIBET Žalgiris (Apr 14, 2022) 6 Source: LKL.LT
Team statistics
CategoryTeamAverage Rating Rytas 102.58 Points Rytas 87.47 Rebounds Neptūnas 36.63 Assists Žalgiris 20.96 Steals Lietkabelis 8.49 Blocks Labas Gas 3.55 Turnovers Neptūnas 15.77 FT % Žalgiris 79.09% 2-Point % Neptūnas 57.52% 3-Point % Žalgiris 39.36% Source: LKL.LT
Lithuanian clubs in European competitions Team Competition Progress Žalgiris EuroLeague Regular Season Lietkabelis EuroCup Eighthfinals Rytas Champions League Round of 16JuventusQualifying rounds
References