The 2019–20 LBA season was the 98th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the men's top tier professional basketball division of the Italian basketball league system. The regular season started on September 25, 2019, and was scheduled to finish on April 26, 2020. However, the season was cancelled prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On March 8, 2020, the Italian government halted the league until April 3, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy. On April 7, 2020, after a month of suspension, the Italian Basketball Federation officially ended the 2019–20 season. Virtus Bologna ended the season first, with 18 wins and 2 defeats, but the title was not assigned.
As in previous years, Molten Corporation provided the official ball for all matches.
Umana Reyer Venezia are the defending champions.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of 18 teams contest the league, including 15 sides from the 2018–19 season and three promoted from the 2018–19 Serie A2.
Teams promoted from Serie A2
Fortitudo Pompea Bologna
Virtus Roma
De' Longhi Treviso
Fortitudo Pompea Bologna and Virtus Roma are the two promoted clubs from the Serie A2 Basket as they ranked first on the league table at the end of the Regular Season. They returned to the top division, respectively, following a hiatus 10 and 4 years. De' Longhi Treviso is the winner team of the 2019 Serie A2 Playoffs and is the third promoted club to LBA.
The three promoted clubs from Serie A2 replaced Fiat Torino, which were relegated during the previous season after deducted 8 points by the Federal Council due to financial irregularities.
On July 12, 2019, after the resignation of Sidigas Avellino to play in LBA for financial difficulties, the LBA agreed to play a 17-team league.
Number of teams by region
Notes
2018–19 LBA champion. 2018–19 Serie A2 champion. 2018–19 Serie A2 Promotion Play-Off Winner.
Venues and locations
Source:
Personnel and sponsorship
Managerial changes
Changes from 2018–19
The 2019-20 edition of LBA, due to the expansion of the number of teams (from 16 to 18), will take place over 34 rounds and should start earlier than usual, September 25, 2019. Also, it will be the introduction of midweek matches, otherwise it would not be possible to end the season by June 9 (the date set by FIBA due to the pre-Olympic tournament starting July 3, 2020). More specifically, the first four days of the 2019-20 LBA, thanks to the double shifts, will take place from September 25, to the weekend of October 5–6, 2019. Four rounds in just 10 days.
Due to the expansion of the number of teams, at the end of the 2018–19 LBA season there were three promotions from the Serie A2 and just one relegation. For the next years, there will be two relegations and two promotions to maintain the number of clubs in LBA.
Rules
Each team is allowed either five or seven foreign players under two formulas: 5 foreigners plus #5 Italian players 6 foreigners plus #6 Italian players
Each club can choose the 5+5 formula, that consists of five Italian players and five foreign players, or the 6+6 formula.
As in previous seasons, LBA clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,500 people.
Regular season
In the regular season, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight first qualified teams will advance to the Playoffs, the last seven qualified teams will be eliminated, while the last two qualified teams will be relegated and replaced by the winner of the playoffs of the second-level Serie A2 Basket. The matchdays are from September 25, 2019, to April 26, 2020.
League table
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 13, but then postponed and played between rounds 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for round 16. In italics, the team did not play any game in that round.
Results
Statistical leaders
As of February 10, 2020.