LKL Finals

LKL Finals
LKL Finals
Status	Active
Genre	Sporting event
Date(s)	June
Frequency	Annual
Country	Lithuania
Inaugurated	1994

The Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) Finals is the championship finals series for the top-tier level professional club basketball league in Lithuania, the LKL, and the conclusion of the league's postseason. The Finals have been played in either a best-of-seven, or a best-of five format. The first LKL Finals series was held in 1994, and was contested by Žalgiris and Atletas, with Žalgiris winning the series 3–1.

Žalgiris Kaunas has been the most successful team, having won 22 out of the 27 LKL Finals series that have been played so far. Lietuvos rytas Vilnius is the only other team to win the LKL Finals.

History

1994–2000: Early dominance by Žalgiris Kaunas

Žalgiris Kaunas won the first 6 LKL Finals series, from 1994 to 1999. The team's dominance in the LKL Finals came to an end in the 2000 LKL Finals, when they lost to Lietuvos rytas Vilnius. During that same period, Žalgiris had also won the second tier level European-wide FIBA Saporta Cup in the 1997–98 season, and the first tier level European-wide 1999 FIBA EuroLeague Final Four. From 1994 to 2000, Atletas Kaunas was the only other club that came close to winning the LKL Finals, as they won the first two games of the 5 game 1996 LKL Finals.

2000–2010: Lietuvos rytas Vilnius and Žalgiris rivalry

Lietuvos rytas Vilnius finally ended Žalgiris Kaunas' run of winning the first 6 LKL Finals, when they won the finals in 2000. Over an 11-year period, from 2000 to 2010, all of the LKL Finals were won by the two clubs, with Lietuvos rytas winning 5 LKL Finals series, and Žalgiris Kaunas winning 6 LKL Finals series.

2011–present: Žalgiris Kaunas again dominates

Starting with the 2011 LKL Finals, Žalgiris Kaunas began another long run of dominance, winning 10 straight LKL Finals series, from 2011 to 2021.

LKL Finals series results

Season	Champion	Result	Runner-up
1994	Žalgiris	3–1	Atletas
1995	Žalgiris	3–0	Atletas
1996	Žalgiris	3–2	Atletas
1997	Žalgiris	3–0	Olimpas
1998	Žalgiris	3–1	Atletas
1999	Žalgiris	3–0	Lietuvos rytas
2000	Lietuvos rytas	3–1	Žalgiris
2001	Žalgiris	3–2	Lietuvos rytas
2002	Lietuvos rytas	4–3	Žalgiris
2003	Žalgiris	4–2	Lietuvos rytas
2004	Žalgiris	4–0	Lietuvos rytas
2005	Žalgiris	4–0	Lietuvos rytas
2006	Lietuvos rytas	4–0	Žalgiris
2007	Žalgiris	4–2	Lietuvos rytas
2008	Žalgiris	4–1	Lietuvos rytas
2009	Lietuvos rytas	4–1	Žalgiris
2010	Lietuvos rytas	4–3	Žalgiris
2011	Žalgiris	4–1	Lietuvos rytas
2012	Žalgiris	3–0	Lietuvos rytas
2013	Žalgiris	4–0	Lietuvos rytas
2014	Žalgiris	4–2	Neptūnas
2015	Žalgiris	4–0	Lietuvos rytas
2016	Žalgiris	4–1	Neptūnas
2017	Žalgiris	4–1	Lietkabelis
2018	Žalgiris	4–1	Lietuvos rytas
2019	Žalgiris	3–0	Rytas
2020	Finals were not held
2021	Žalgiris	3–0	Rytas
2022	Rytas	4–1	Lietkabelis
2023	Žalgiris	3–2	Rytas
2024	Rytas	3–1	Žalgiris

LKL Finals won by head coach

List of winning head coaches:

1994 – Jaak Salumets
1995 – Jonas Kazlauskas
1996 – Jonas Kazlauskas (2)
1997 – Jonas Kazlauskas (3)
1998 – Jonas Kazlauskas (4)
1999 – Jonas Kazlauskas (5)
2000 – Šarūnas Sakalauskas
2001 – Algirdas Brazys
2002 – Jonas Kazlauskas (6)
2003 – Antanas Sireika
2004 – Antanas Sireika (2)
2005 – Antanas Sireika (3)
2006 – Neven Spahija
2007 – Rimantas Grigas
2008 – Rimantas Grigas (2)
2009 – Rimas Kurtinaitis
2010 – Rimas Kurtinaitis (2)
2011 – Ilias Zouros
2012 – Aleksandar Trifunović
2013 – Joan Plaza
2014 – Gintaras Krapikas
2015 – Gintaras Krapikas (2)
2016 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius
2017 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius (2)
2018 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius (3)
2019 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius (4)
2020 – Finals were not held
2021 – Martin Schiller
2022 – Giedrius Žibėnas
2023 – Kazys Maksvytis
2024 – Giedrius Žibėnas (2)

LKL Finals Most Valuable Player

The LKL Finals Most Valuable Player Award is the annual award that is given by the professional Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), to the Most Valuable Player of each season's LKL Finals.

Gintaras Einikis was the winner of the first Finals MVP award, in 1994. So far 5 players, Einikis, Arvydas Macijauskas, Tanoka Beard, Paulius Jankūnas and Edgaras Ulanovas, have won multiple Finals MVP awards. To date, Beard is the only non-Lithuanian player to win multiple Finals MVP awards. The current holder of the award is Marcus Foster.

LKL Finals MVPs

Player nationality by national team:

*	Member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
**	Member of the FIBA Hall of Fame
***	Member of both the Naismith and FIBA Halls of Fame
†	Denotes player whose team won championship that year
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has received the Finals MVP award

Season	Finals MVP	Position	Nationality	Club	Ref.
1993–94 †	Gintaras Einikis	PF/C	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
1994–95 †	Gintaras Einikis (2×)	PF/C	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
1995–96 †	Rimas Kurtinaitis	SG	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
1996–97	N/A
1997–98	N/A
1998–99	N/A
1999–00	Eurelijus Žukauskas	C	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2000–01	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	SG/SF	Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2001–02 †	Arvydas Macijauskas	SG	Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2002–03	Arvydas Macijauskas (2×)	SG	Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2003–04 †	Tanoka Beard	PF/C	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas
2004–05 †	Mindaugas Timinskas	SF/PF	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2005–06 †	Andrius Šležas	SF/PF	Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2006–07 †	Tanoka Beard (2×)	PF/C	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas
2007–08 †	Marcus Brown	SG	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas
2008–09 †	Chuck Eidson	SG/SF	United States	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2009–10 †	Martynas Gecevičius	SG	Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2010–11 †	Paulius Jankūnas	PF/C	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2011–12 †	Tomas Delininkaitis	SG	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2012–13 †	Mindaugas Kuzminskas	SF	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2013–14 †	Paulius Jankūnas (2×)	PF/C	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2014–15 †	Artūras Milaknis	SG/SF	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas
2015–16 †	Jerome Randle	PG	Ukraine	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[1]
2016–17 †	Edgaras Ulanovas	SF	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[2]
2017–18 †	Brandon Davies	PF	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[3]
2018–19 †	Edgaras Ulanovas (2×)	SF	Lithuania	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[4]
2019–20	Finals not held
2020–21 †	Thomas Walkup	PG	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[5]
2021–22 †	Arnas Butkevičius	SF/PF	Lithuania	Rytas Vilnius	^[6]
2022–23 †	Isaiah Taylor	PG	United States	Žalgiris Kaunas	^[7]
2023–24 †	Marcus Foster	SG	United States	Rytas Vilnius	^[8]

Multi-time winners

Player	Team(s)	No.	Years
Gintaras Einikis	Žalgiris Kaunas	2	1994, 1995
Arvydas Macijauskas	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius	2	2002, 2003
Tanoka Beard	Žalgiris Kaunas	2	2004, 2007
Paulius Jankūnas	Žalgiris Kaunas	2	2011, 2014
Edgaras Ulanovas	Žalgiris Kaunas	2	2017, 2019

By player nationality

Number	Country
18×	Lithuania
8×	United States
1×	Ukraine

By club

Number	Team
24×	Žalgiris Kaunas
8×	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius/Rytas Vilnius

References

^ Congratulations Jerome Randle on being named...
^ "LKL finalo MVP tapo Edgaras Ulanovas". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
^ "Sezono uždarymo šventė: LKL titulai byrėjo žalgiriečiams". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
^ "LKL sezono uždaryme – Š.Jasikevičiaus, E.Ulanovo ir "Žalgirio" triumfas". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
^ "Th.Walkupas – apie MVP apdovanojimą, ateities klausimą ir amžinus draugus Kaune". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
^ "Išdalinti "Betsafe-LKL" apdovanojimai: finalo serijos MVP tapo A. Butkevičius, metų treneris – G. Žibėnas". lkl.lt. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
^ "Išdalinti jubiliejinio "Betsafe-LKL" sezono apdovanojimai: finalo serijos MVP tapo I. Tayloras, metų treneris – V. Šeškus". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 11 June 2023.
^ "Finalo serijos MVP – M. Fosteris". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 15 June 2024.

External links

[1] Congratulations Jerome Randle on being named...

[2] "LKL finalo MVP tapo Edgaras Ulanovas". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 10 June 2017.

[3] "Sezono uždarymo šventė: LKL titulai byrėjo žalgiriečiams". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 20 June 2018.

[4] "LKL sezono uždaryme – Š.Jasikevičiaus, E.Ulanovo ir "Žalgirio" triumfas". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 4 June 2019.

[5] "Th.Walkupas – apie MVP apdovanojimą, ateities klausimą ir amžinus draugus Kaune". 15min.lt/24sek. Retrieved 9 June 2021.

[6] "Išdalinti "Betsafe-LKL" apdovanojimai: finalo serijos MVP tapo A. Butkevičius, metų treneris – G. Žibėnas". lkl.lt. Retrieved 15 June 2022.

[7] "Išdalinti jubiliejinio "Betsafe-LKL" sezono apdovanojimai: finalo serijos MVP tapo I. Tayloras, metų treneris – V. Šeškus". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 11 June 2023.

[8] "Finalo serijos MVP – M. Fosteris". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 15 June 2024.

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