National Professional Basketball League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 LNBP season
SportBasketball
FoundedMarch 11, 2000; 23 years ago (2000-03-11)
DirectorSergio Velázquez
MottoCree en tu juego
(Believe in your game)
No. of teams14
CountryMexico
HeadquartersMexico City, Mexico
ContinentFIBA Americas
Most recent
champion(s)		Fuerza Regia de Monterrey
(5th title)
Most titlesFuerza Regia de Monterrey (5 titles)
TV partner(s)Multimedios[1]
Once
Televisa[2]
TVC Deportes[3]
Official websiteLNBP.mx

The National Professional Basketball League (Spanish: Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional or LNBP) is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 10 teams.

Famous basketball players who have played in the league include Jamario Moon,[4] Dennis Rodman,[5] Sun Mingming,[6] Horacio Llamas[7] and many others.

History

Foundation

In January 2000, some teams of CIMEBA (Circuito Mexicano de Básquetbol), the national basketball league in Mexico at the time, exited the league, citing CIMEBA's financial difficulties, and decided to form a new league.[8] On March 11, 2000 the league was founded in the city of Durango with 11 teams participating. These were the founding teams, with the respective city and state:[9]

The first president was Modesto Robledo.[10] The LNBP set out to support and develop professional basketball in Mexico. The first edition of the league started on August 7, 2000[11] and finished in December, with the regular season finishing on November 11 and the playoffs starting on November 14.[12] The first game was played in Torreón between Algodoneros de Torreón and Dorados de Chihuahua at the Auditorio Municipal: Dorados won, 80–78.[13] The league coexisted in its first seasons with CIMEBA.[14]

Teams

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional is located in Mexico
Abejas
Plateros
Correcaminos
Astros
Libertadores
Freseros
Mineros
Soles
Dorados
Fuerza Regia
Halcones
Halcones Rojos
Panteras
Santos
Location of the 2023 LNBP teams


Team City Arena Capacity Founded Joined Head coach
East Division
Correbasket UAT Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas Gimnasio Multidisciplinario UAT Victoria 2,600 2000 2022 Argentina Facundo Murías
Dorados de Chihuahua Chihuahua City, Chihuahua Gimnasio Manuel Bernardo Aguirre 9,600 2000 2019 Spain Maikel López
Fuerza Regia de Monterrey Monterrey, Nuevo León Gimnasio Nuevo León 5,000 2001 Spain Pablo García
Halcones de Xalapa Xalapa, Veracruz Gimnasio USBI 2,638 2003 2021 Puerto Rico Allans Colón
Halcones Rojos Veracruz Veracruz City, Veracruz Auditorio Benito Juárez 4,000 2003 2023 Argentina Nicolás Casalánguida
Mineros de Zacatecas Zacatecas City, Zacatecas Gimnasio Marcelino González 3,458 2017 2022 Spain Pedro Carrillo
Plateros de Fresnillo Fresnillo, Zacatecas Gimnasio Solidaridad Municipal 4,500 2019 Argentina Claudio Arrigoni
West Division
Abejas de León León, Guanajuato Domo de la Feria 4,463 2009 Argentina Guillermo Narvarte
Astros de Jalisco Guadalajara, Jalisco Arena Astros 3,509 2019 Spain Sergio Valdeolmillos
Freseros de Irapuato Irapuato, Guanajuato Inforum Irapuato 3,000 2023 United States Walter McCarty
Libertadores de Querétaro Querétaro City, Querétaro Auditorio General Arteaga 2,982 2009 2017 Spain Iván Déniz
Panteras de Aguascalientes Aguascalientes City, Aguascalientes Gimnasio Hermanos Carreón 3,000 2003 2023 Puerto Rico José Martínez
Santos del Potosí San Luis Potosí City, San Luis Potosí Auditorio Miguel Barragán 3,400 2003 2023 Puerto Rico Héctor Porrata
Soles de Mexicali Mexicali, Baja California Auditorio PSF 4,779 2005 Mexico Carlos Arenas

[15]

Format

Regular season

The regular season is played in round-robin format in which the 8 best-placed teams qualify to the postseason. For every game won 2 points are added and for every game lost one point is added. For example: If team one played 10 games and won 7, losing the remaining 3, it would have 17 points; 14 points for the 7 games won and 3 points for the games lost.

Playoffs

The eight top-seeded teams play each other. The 1st-placed team plays the 8th-place team while the 2nd plays the 7th and the 3rd plays the 6th and so on. The semi-finals are played like the quarterfinals while the Serie Final is played by the two teams remaining with the best-placed team having home field advantage.

List of champions

Season Champion Result Runner-up
2000 Correcaminos UAT Tampico 4–2 Correcaminos UAT Victoria
2001 Gallos de Pelea de Ciudad Juárez 4–1 Lobos UAdeC
2002 Correcaminos UAT Victoria 4–3 Correcaminos UAT Matamoros
2003 Panteras de Aguascalientes 4–2 La Ola Roja del Distrito Federal
2004 Santos de San Luis 4–2 Halcones de Xalapa
2005 Halcones de Xalapa 4–1 Lobos UAdeC
2006 Soles de Mexicali 4–3 Halcones de Xalapa
2007–08 Halcones de Xalapa 4–3 Soles de Mexicali
2008–09 Halcones de Xalapa 4–2 Soles de Mexicali
2009–10 Halcones de Xalapa 4–1 Halcones Rojos Veracruz
2010–11 Toros de Nuevo Laredo 4–2 Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2011–12 Halcones Rojos Veracruz 4–1 Toros de Nuevo Laredo
2012–13 Toros de Nuevo Laredo 4–2 Halcones de Xalapa
2013–14 Halcones Rojos Veracruz 4–3 Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2014–15 Soles de Mexicali 4–1 Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2015–16 Pioneros de Quintana Roo 4–3 Soles de Mexicali
2016–17 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 4–2 Soles de Mexicali
2017–18 Soles de Mexicali 4–1 Capitanes de Ciudad de México
2018–19 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 4–2 Capitanes de Ciudad de México
2019–20 Soles de Mexicali 4–3 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey
2020 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 3–1 Aguacateros de Michoacán
2021 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 4–0 Astros de Jalisco
2022 Abejas de León 4–0 Astros de Jalisco
2023 Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 4–1 Astros de Jalisco

Championships

Team Championship Runner-up Year(s) won
Fuerza Regia de Monterrey 5 1 2016–17, 2018–19, 2020, 2021, 2023
Soles de Mexicali 4 4 2006, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2019–20
Halcones de Xalapa 4 3 2005, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
Halcones Rojos Veracruz 2 1 2011–12, 2013–14
Toros de Nuevo Laredo 2 1 2010–11, 2012–13
Pioneros de Quintana Roo 1 3 2015–16
Correcaminos UAT Victoria 1 1 2002
Correcaminos UAT Tampico 1 0 2000
Gallos de Pelea de Ciudad Juárez 1 0 2001
Panteras de Aguascalientes 1 0 2003
Santos de San Luis 1 0 2004
Abejas de León 1 0 2022
Astros de Jalisco 0 3
Capitanes de Ciudad de México 0 2
Lobos UAdeC 0 2
Aguacateros de Michoacán 0 1
Correcaminos UAT Matamoros 0 1
Ola Roja del Distrito Federal 0 1

Copa Independencia winners

The Copa Independencia (Independence Cup) was a tournament created by the LNBP.

Season Champion Runner-up
2004 Lobos UAdeC Lechugueros de León
2005 Lobos UAdeC Correcaminos UAT Victoria
2006 Lobos Grises UAD Halcones de Xalapa
2007–08 Lobos Grises UAD Halcones Rojos Veracruz

Former teams

References

  1. ^ includes Canal 6
  2. ^ Includes Adrenalina Sports Network
  3. ^ includes TVC Deportes 2
  4. ^ Se impone Fuerza Regia a Selección Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine. June 24, 2006. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
  5. ^ Rodman comes back, first in Mexico. October 12, 2004. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
  6. ^ Fuerza Regia le quitó lo invicto a Halcones UV. October 28, 2007. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
  7. ^ Mexicali o Saltillo van contra Fuerza Regia en la LNBP. November 1, 2005. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
  8. ^ "Algodoneros su reto: los play offs". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). July 29, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  9. ^ "Equipos y sedes". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 17, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  10. ^ "Habrá dos equipos en Guadalajara". El Informador (in Spanish). April 16, 2000. p. 9C.
  11. ^ "Jalisco no tendrá equipo". El Informador (in Spanish). August 3, 2000. p. 8C.
  12. ^ "LNBP, Grupos". lnbp.com.mx. Archived from the original on December 4, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "Noticias de agosto 2000". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 4, 2001. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  14. ^ "Dispuesto Reyes al diálogo". El Informador (in Spanish). November 2, 2001. p. 8C.
  15. ^ "Tendrá LNBP 3 equipos más". heraldo.mx. El Heraldo. 1999-03-13. Archived from the original on 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-07.

External links

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional
Men's basketball leagues
Categories