Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with promotion/relegation occurring between these leagues.
It is run by the Lega Nazionale Pallacanestro (LNP), itself regulated by the FIP, the Italian federation.
Names 1974–2001: Serie A2 2001–2013: LegaDue Basket 2013–2014: Divisione Nazionale A Gold Basket 2014–present: Serie A2
History
The league was created in May 1974, by the Lega Basket, the organisation in charge of running the LBA (to this day), that decided to create a new second division with 10 clubs. The two that were relegated during that season, and 8 from the now-former second tier Serie B, chosen with an on and off the court criteria.
The 1975–76 season saw 12 clubs take part, after a complicated system had seen a transfer of clubs from the Serie A1 to the A2.
In June 2001, the LegaDue was created to replace the Serie A2. Lega Basket now took part in running the league, though a system of promotion and relegation between the leagues remained.
During the 2013 summer, another revamp was decided. The LegaDue was amalgamated with the third division DNA, to form a two-tiered league, the DNA (Divisione Nazionale A) Gold and DNA Silver. The two DNA's had separate season's, but the first ranked team in DNA Silver joined the seven best Gold teams to compete for the single promotion spot in the Serie A. The next best eight Silver squads fought for one spot in the next Gold season, whilst the three worst teams were relegated.
The next season saw the league retake its Serie A2 moniker, keeping a similar but tweaked hybrid model, with the eight best Gold and the four best Silver teams taking part in the promotion playoffs (still for the one spot), whilst the last two Gold and the penultimate and ante-penultimate Silver squads play a relegation play out (the last ranked Silver team was relegated outright).
Competition format For the 2015–16 season, the Serie A2 Basket is composed of 32 teams with a regional subdivision in two equal groups of sixteen, East and West.
Each team plays the others in its subgroup twice, the first ranked team of each group then plays the eighth ranked team of the other group (e.g. East #1 against West #8), then the second best against the seventh, and so on, to form a promotion playoffs (for one place) of sixteen teams.
Since the 2018–19 season the Playoffs winner is the third promoted team to LBA. The two other promoted clubs, which are also the top seeded on the League Table at the end of the Regular Season, have to face a final of two matches to decide the winner of the Serie A2.
Since the 2019–20 season the Playoffs winners (2 tournaments) are promoted to LBA.
Current clubs (2024–2025) TeamCityAvellino Basket AvellinoFortitudo Bologna BolognaNew Basket Brindisi BrindisiPallacanestro Cantù CantùBenedetto XIV Cento CentoUEB Cividale Cividale del FriuliJuvi Cremona 1952 CremonaPallacanestro Forlì ForlìLibertas Livorno LivornoUrania Milano MilanNardò Basket NardòOrziBasket OrzinuoviVictoria Libertas Pesaro PesaroUnione Cestistica Casalpusterlengo PiacenzaReal Sebastiani Rieti RietiRinascita Basket Rimini RiminiBasket Torino TurinAPU Udine UdineScaligera Basket Verona VeronaNuova Pallacanestro Vigevano 1955 Vigevano
League champions SeasonChampionsOther promoted team 2001–02 Pastificio di Nola Napoli – 2002–03 Sanic Teramo Pallacanestro Messina 2003–04 Bipop Reggio Emilia Sicc Cucine Jesi 2004–05 Upea Capo d'Orlando Caffè Maxim Bologna 2005–06 Eurorida Scafati Premiata Montegranaro 2006–07 Sebastiani Rieti Scavolini Pesaro 2007–08 Carife Ferrara Pepsi Caserta 2008–09 Pallacanestro Varese Vanoli Soresina 2009–10 Enel Brindisi Dinamo Sassari 2010–11 A.S. Junior Pallacanestro Casale Reyer Venezia 2011–12 Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia Enel Brindisi 2012–13 Pistoia Basket 2000 – 2013–14 Aquila Basket Trento – 2014–15 Manital Torino – 2015–16 Centrale del Latte Brescia – 2016–17 Segafredo Virtus Bologna – 2017–18 Alma Pallacanestro Trieste – 2018–19 Lavoropiù Fortitudo Bologna Virtus Roma & Treviso 2019–20 Not assigned – 2020–21 GeVi Napoli & Bertram Tortona – 2021–22 Scaligera Verona – 2022–23 Vanoli Basket Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia 2023–24 Pallacanestro Trieste & Trapani Shark – 2024–25 APU Udine Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù 2025–26 Givova Scafati
MVP SeasonMVPTeam2009–10 Omar Thomas New Basket Brindisi2010–11 Ricky Hickman Junior Casale2011–12 Dwight Hardy Pistoia Basket2012–13 Casper Ware Junior Casale2013–14 Davide Pascolo Aquila Basket Trento2014–15 Darryl Monroe Tezenis Verona2015–16 Damian Hollis Centrale del Latte Brescia
Best Coach SeasonCoachTeam2003–04 Fabrizio Frates Pallacanestro Reggiana2004–05 Giovanni Perdichizzi Orlandina Basket2005–06 Luca Dalmonte Basket Club Ferrara2006–07 Giampiero Ticchi Basket Rimini Crabs2007–08 Sandro Dell'Agnello Basket Livorno2008-09 Andrea Trinchieri Veroli Basket2009–10 Luigi Garelli Nuova Pallacanestro Vigevano2010–11 Giulio Griccioli Scafati Basket2011–12 Massimiliano Menetti Pallacanestro Reggiana2012–13 Alberto Martelossi Basket Brescia Leonessa2013–14 Maurizio Buscaglia Aquila Basket Trento2014–15 Alessandro Ramagli Scaligera Basket Verona2015–16Eugenio Dalmasson (Alma Trieste) allenatore dell’anno per la Serie A2 Citroen . Eugenio Dalmasson Trieste2019–20 NOT ASSIGNED 2020–21 Alessandro Ramagli Scaligera Basket Verona
Topscorers By scoring average
Regular season, play-offs not included.
Top scorers by scoring average (1987–88 to present)SeasonPlayer(league's top scorer)ClubScoring average 1982–83 Roscoe Pondexter Cover Jeans Roseto 30.7 1983–84 Dražen Dalipagić Gedeco Udine 29.1 1984–85 Joe Bryant Rieti 32.6 Serie A2, Joe Bryant in the quintet “All Time”: he was top scorer with Olimpia Pistoia - pistoiasport.com 1985–86 Joe Bryant Rieti 37.6 1986–87 Joe Bryant Reggio Calabria 33.3 1987–88 Joe Bryant (4×) Pistoia 36.3 1988–89 Dražen Dalipagić (2×) Glaxo Verona 35.3 1988–90 Mike Mitchell Filodoro Brescia 32.4 1990–91 Oscar Schmidt Pavia 43.6 1991–92 Ron Rowan Pistoia 31.9 1992-93 Oscar Schmidt (2×) Pavia 39.2 1993–94 Arijan Komazec Pallacanestro Varese 31.8 1994–95 Carlton Myers Rimini 30.5 1995–96 Mike Mitchell (2×) Pallacanestro Reggiana 32.8 1996–97 Kareem Townes Juvecaserta 26.8 1997–98 Steve Burtt Imola 27.9 Serie A2 (1997-1998) - eurobasket.com 1998–99 Rodney Monroe Termal Imola 25.1 Serie A2 (1998-1999) - eurobasket.com 1999–00 Rodney Monroe (2×) Fabriano Basket 21.8 Serie A2 (1999-2000) - eurobasket.com 2000–01 Antonio Granger Pallacanestro Biella 25.6 Serie A2 (2000-2001) - eurobasket.com 2001–02 Horace Jenkins C.S. Borgomanero 30.4 2002-03 Mario Boni Teramo Basket 29.2 Serie A2 (2002-2003) - eurobasket.com 2003–04 Drew Nicholas Fabriano Basket 27.1 Serie A2 (2003-2004) - eurobasket.com 2004-05 Vincenzo Esposito Imola 26.9 Serie A2 (2004-05) - eurobasket.com 2005-06 Sean Colson JuveCaserta 30.6 Serie A2 (2005-2006) - eurobasket.com 2006-07 Lionel Chalmers Dinamo Sassari 26.7 2007-08 Tim Pickett Termal Imola 22.6 Serie A2 (2007-08) - eurobasket.com 2008-09 Joe Bunn Termal Imola 23.2 Serie A2 (2008-09) - eurobasket.com 2009-10 Trent Whiting Termal Imola 22.3 Serie A2 (2009-10) - eurobasket.com 2010-11 Trent Whiting (2×) Termal Imola 22.4 Serie A2 (2010-11) - eurobasket.com 2011-12 Troy Bell Azzurro Napoli Basket 23.2 Serie A2 (2011-12) - eurobasket.com
Source: LegaBasket.it STATISTICHE .
Distinctions These players have played in the Serie A2.
FIBA Hall of Fame Oscar Schmidt Dražen Dalipagić
Basketball Hall of Fame Oscar Schmidt Dražen Dalipagić Bob McAdoo Alex English
FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) Oscar Schmidt Dražen Dalipagić Antonello Riva
Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Alex English Bob McAdoo
See also Italian LNP Cup
Notes
References
Sources Top scorers per season playbasket.it
External links Official website