BK Liepāja, known as Betsafe/Liepāja for sponsorship reasons, is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

club in

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

playing in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League and

Latvian Basketball League Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latvi ...

. Liepāja team's greatest achievement in

came in 1997 when it won second place. It has also come in third in 2000, 2011,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and 2023.

History

Basketball team named “Sarkanais metalurgs” from the city of

first won Latvian SSR championship in 1963. During the years teams changed names, since 1991, after

regained independence from

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, according to sponsorships. Previous team names were Liepājas Metalurgs, Baltika/Kaija, BK Liepāja, Līvu alus/Liepāja, Liepājas Lauvas, Liepāja/Triobet. In May 2018, the team was reorganized into Liepājas Basketbols with the goal of creating a unified basketball system for Liepāja for junior and professional player development. The team announced the beginning of its sponsorship by Betsafe following

Betsson Betsson AB is an online gambling company, producing casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos ...

's decision to merge the Triobet brand, which previously sponsored BK Liepāja, into that brand. Since 2020, with the hiring of Latvian National team assistant and

2018 FIBA U18 European Championship The 2018 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 35th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of ...

silver medalist

Artūrs Visockis-Rubenis Artūrs Visockis-Rubenis (born August 11, 1985) is a Latvian professional basketball coach, who is currently a head coach for BK Liepāja, and an assistant for Luca Banchi in Latvian National Team. Career From 2011 till 2016 he worked as a he ...

as their head coach, BK Liepāja focuses on building teams around new talents. In 2021/2022 season BK Liepāja made their international debut, competing in newly founded

European North Basketball League The European North Basketball League (ENBL) is regional professional men's club basketball league in northern, central and eastern Europe; it has been organised since 2021. ENBL format is based on the European Youth Basketball league (founded in ...

. Liepāja won one of five games and finished the tournament at 5th place. During the 2022/2023 season Liepāja won the bronze medal in Latvian league. Many players established themselves for the next level. After an excellent season with Liepāja, Kārlis Šiliņš signed in German Bundesliga. Renārs Birkāns signed with 10-time Latvian champion

BK Ventspils BK Ventspils is a professional basketball club that is located in Ventspils, Latvia. The club competes in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. History BK Ventspils was founded in 1994. In first years Ventspils proved themselves as relevant p ...

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Season by season

Notable players

* Edgars Jeromanovs *

Mareks Jurevičus Mareks Jurevičus (born 17 January 1985) is a Latvian professional basketball player, who plays the Shooting guard, Small forward position. He's currently playing for the France ProA club Elan Chalon. ES Chalon-Sur-Saône (ProA) added to their r ...

Mārtiņš Meiers Mārtiņš Meiers (born 30 March 1991) is a Latvian professional basketball player for BK Saldus of the Ramirent Nacionālā Basketbola līga, the second-tier basketball league in Latvia. Professional career Meiers had a breakout year in his seco ...

Mareks Mejeris Mareks Mejeris (born 2 September 1991) is a Latvian professional basketball player for U-BT Cluj-Napoca of the Liga Națională, who plays the small forward and power forward position. Professional career He started his pro career in 2009 with h ...

Jānis Porziņģis Jānis Porziņģis (born 13 July 1982) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. At a height of , he played at the small forward position. He is the older brother of Boston Celtics forward Kristaps Porziņģis. Professional playing care ...

Artūrs Štālbergs Artūrs Štālbergs (born October 15, 1984) is a Latvian professional basketball coach for BK Liepājas Lauvas. He is also a former player. Playing career Štālbergs started basketball career in his hometown Liepāja. In 2003, he moved to USA w ...

Jānis Timma Jānis Timma (2 July 1992 – 17 December 2024) was a Latvian professional basketball player. Standing at , he mainly played at the small forward position. He also represented the senior Latvia men's national basketball team, Latvia national team ...

Raimonds Vaikulis Raimonds Vaikulis (born February 4, 1980, in Preili) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. Professional career In 2008, with the BK Barons, he won the EuroCup and the Latvian Basketball League championship. He is a member of the ...

Uģis Viļums Uģis Viļums (born 28 July 1979 in Saldus, Latvian SSR) is a former Latvian professional basketball guard, who played for Barons LMT. He was member of the Latvia men's national basketball team The Latvia men's national basketball team () ...

* Paul Butorac * Vernon Hamilton * Josh Mayo * Ashton Mitchell *

Malcolm Griffin Malcolm Griffin may refer to: * Malcolm Griffin (American football) Malcolm Griffin (July 9, 1877 – October 18, 1948) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Alabama T ...

Kris Richard Kris Richard (born October 28, 1979) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Dallas ...

Martynas Andriukaitis Martynas Andriukaitis (March 28, 1981 – September 4, 2014) was a Lithuanian professional basketball player. He was born in Kaunas. Professional career During his pro club career, Andriukaitis won the Lithuanian League championship (2001), an ...

* Valdas Dabkus * Laimonas Kisielius

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:BK Liepajas Lauvas Sport in Liepāja Basketball teams in Latvia Basketball in Latvia Basketball teams established in 1991 Basketball teams disestablished in 2018