BK Barons

Barons/LDz
Barons/LDz
Leagues	LBL ; Baltic League
Founded	2001
Dissolved	2017
History	Princips (1992–1994); LainERS (1994–2001); Barons (2001–2004); Barons/LU (2004–2006); Barons/LMT (2006–2009); Barons/O!Karte; (2011–2012); Barons Kvartāls; (2012–2014); Barons/LDz; (2014–2017)
Arena	Daugavas Sporta nams
Location	Rīga, Latvia
President	Ivo Zonne
Head coach	Mārtiņš Gulbis
Championships	Latvian Championships :; 2 (2008, 2010); FIBA EuroCup :; 1 (2008)
Website	barons.lv
Home	Away

Last updated March 24, 2024

BK Barons/LDz (previously Barons/LMT) was a professional basketball club who was based in Riga, Latvia. The team played in the first division of the Latvian Basketball League.

History

Barons Kvartāls played an integral part in Latvia's basketball history. Under the name Princips, Barons Kvartāls was one of the founding teams of the Latvian Basketball League (LBL) in 1992. In the first season Princips carried off bronze in the LBL. After two seasons Princips was renamed the LainERS, making their way into Latvia's basketball history with its first American legionary Mikki Jackson, with a cheerleader show and first ever game programmes in the Latvian league.

LainERS won LBL bronze in 1994, and in the next two seasons finished in 4th place. They also reached the semi-finals in 1998. For the next couple of seasons, they achieved no greater success.

The club's revival started in the fall of 2001 when LainERS became Barons. The road to success was made with small steps with Barons winning LBL bronze in 2004. The next two years was historical for Barons when they ended in 2nd place. Barons made history again with the first players' cards. In January 2007 the third issue of the beloved fan cards was released. In the last season of the LBL, in a series of five games, Barons/O!Karte lost to the next Latvian champions ASK Rīga in the semi-finals but won the fight for bronze against Liepājas Lauvas.

Barons/O!Karte has participated in all three of the Baltic Basketball League championships. Their highest achievement so far was in 2006 when Barons/O!Karte participated in the Final Six in Tallinn. On 15 October 2006, the Barons/O!Karte game against Kauņas Žalgiris was attended by a record high crowd of 11,500 spectators.

The 2008 season saw Barons/O!Karte get to the Baltic Basketball League final where they lost to Kalev/Cramo in a 'best out of two' game. The season can be considered historical for Barons/O!Karte, because for the first time Barons won the Latvian championship and FIBA EuroCup.

Barons won the Latvian championship again in 2010.

During the 2011 – 2012 season, Barons played in the Latvian Basketball League 2nd division (LBL2), where they were ranked first place. The next season they came back to the LBL as Barons Kvartāls.

In September 2017 the club announced they would not participate in LBL any further due to financial reasons.

Roster

As of August 3, 2016

#	Player	Pos.	Height	Weight
	Salvis Mētra	G/F	195 cm	92 kg
	Kristaps Mediss	G	188 cm	89 kg
	Denis Krestinin	F	202 cm

Season by season

Season	League	Pos.	Significant Events	Baltic League	Pos.	European competitions
1991–92	LBL	3	–	–	–	–
1992–93	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
1993–94	LBL	3	–	–	–	–
1994–95	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
1995–96	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
1996–97	LBL	7	–	–	–	–
1997–98	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
1998–99	LBL	7	–	–	–	–
1999–00	LBL	6	–	–	–	–
2000–01	LBL	6	–	–	–	–
2001–02	LBL	5	–	–	–	–
2002–03	LBL	6	–	–	–	–
2003–04	LBL	3	–	–	–	–
2004–05	LBL	2	–	Elite Division	9	–
2005–06	LBL	2	–	Elite Division	6	Played EuroChallenge
2006–07	LBL	3	–	Elite Division	7	Played EuroChallenge
2007–08	LBL	1	–	Elite Division	4	EuroChallenge Champion
2008–09	LBL	2	–	Elite Division	8	–
2009–10	LBL	1	–	–	–	–
2010–11	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
2011–12	LBL 2	1	–	–	–	–
2012–13	LBL	4	–	–	–	–
2013–14	LBL	7	–	–	–	–
2014–15	LBL	6	–	–	–	–

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Championships

Latvian Championships: 2 (2008, 2010)
FIBA EuroCup: 1 (2008)

Related Research Articles

BK Ventspils is a professional basketball club that is located in Ventspils, Latvia. The club competes in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League.

VEF Rīga is a Latvian professional basketball team that is based in Riga, Latvia. VEF Rīga is a ten-time Latvian Basketball League champion.

Armands Šķēle is a former Latvian professional basketball player. He was a member of Latvian National Team. He earned praise from fans for his artistic style of play that thrived on creativity and unorthodox moves. During his career Šķēle was nicknamed "Big Time", mainly due to his skills and personality.

Sandis Valters is a retired professional basketball shooting guard, who last played for BK Ventspils. He is member of Latvia national basketball team. His father is a former Soviet basketball star, Valdis Valters, and his younger brother, Kristaps Valters, also plays professional basketball.

Steponas Babrauskas is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as assistant coach at BC Pieno žvaigždės.

The Latvian Basketball League also known as the Pafbet LBL for sponsorship reasons, is the top-level national basketball championship in Latvia composed of 6 teams. Since 2018/19, only the playoff matches are played, as the top Latvian clubs play the regular season in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. The LBL is governed by the Latvian Basketball Association, the national governing body of basketball in Latvia.

BK Valmiera, named Valmiera Ordo for sponsorship reasons, was a professional basketball club based in Valmiera, Latvia which played in the Latvian Basketball League and Baltic Basketball League. Since 2018 the club is on hiatus. In the 2015-2016 season finals, Valmiera Ordo won its first and only national championship, beating VEF Rīga in a seven-game series. Valmiera is a three-time LBL bronze medal winner, attaining the distinction in 2003, 2005, and 2013, with coach Varis Krūmiņš.

Roberts Štelmahers is a Latvian professional basketball coach and former player who played the point guard position. Štelmahers was a member of the Latvia national basketball team from 1992 to 2005 participating in four EuroBasket final tournaments in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005. He has played a total of 144 games for his national team. He was most recently the head coach for Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaspars Bērziņš</span> Latvian basketball player

Kaspars Bērziņš is a Latvian professional basketball player. He has also represented the senior Latvian national team.

Kristaps Janičenoks is a Latvian professional basketball player who currently plays for VEF Rīga. He also plays for the Latvian national basketball team.

Jānis Kaufmanis is a Latvian professional basketball player who plays for his hometown team Valmiera Glass ViA. Prior he has played for top tier Latvian teams BK Valmiera, VEF Rīga, BK Ventspils and Kalev/Cramo. Kaufmanis is two time Latvian champion and Estonian champion.

Jānis Timma is a Latvian professional basketball player for Monbus Obradoiro of the Liga ACB. He also represents the senior Latvian national team. At a height of 2.01 m, he plays mainly at the small forward position.

BK Jēkabpils is a professional basketball club based in Jēkabpils, Latvia, playing in the Latvian Basketball League and Baltic Basketball League. It was founded in 2012 and since then the club is playing in LBL higher division. The club's home arena is the Jēkabpils Sporta nams.

The 2013–14 Latvian Basketball League is the 23rd season. It was sponsored by Aldaris and thus officially known as the Aldaris Latvijas Basketbola līga. The season began on 1 October 2013 and ended on 19 May 2014.

Agris Galvanovskis is a Latvian former professional basketball player and a current head coach for BK Liepājas Lauvas of the LBL.

Mārtiņš Skirmants born December 7, 1977, in Rīga, Latvia is a former Latvian professional basketball player who played the center position.

Mārtiņš Kravčenko is a Latvian professional basketball player who plays the guard position and plays for Latvian Basketball League club BK Jēkabpils. Most of his career he spent at BK Barons which in 2008 won the Latvian Basketball League and FIBA EuroCup championships.

The 2015–16 Latvian Basketball League was the 25th season of the top basketball league of Latvia. The regular season started at the end of September and will end on April 27, 2016. The Playoffs finished on May 31, 2016.

The Latvian-Estonian Basketball League, known as Paf Latvian-Estonian Basketball League for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier men's basketball league in Latvia and Estonia. The competition was introduced in 2018 and is organised by the Latvian Basketball Association and the Estonian Basketball Association.

Edmunds Elksnis is a Latvian professional basketball player from Rūjiena, Latvia, who is currently playing for Valmiera Glass ViA. Priot joining Valmiera Glass ViA Elksnis represented Tartu Ülikool and BK Ventspils in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. Elksnis is playing point guard position.

References

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

v t e Latvijas Basketbola līga
Clubs	VEF Rīga BK Ventspils Valmiera/ORDO Betsafe/Liepāja BK Ogre Latvijas Universitāte
Seasons	1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2022

v t e Barons LMT 2007–08 FIBA EuroCup champions
4 Kravčenko 5 Alexander 6 Rozītis 7 Vaikulis 8 Sirsniņš 9 Gustas (Final Four MVP) 10 Adomaitis 11 Šķēle 12 Batista 13 Brūniņš 14 Bērziņš 15 Hlebowicki
Head coach: Muižnieks