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 Vilnius winning 5 LKL Finals series, and Žalgiris Kaunas winning 6 LKL Finals series.
2011–present: Žalgiris Kaunas dominates again 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-up1994 Žalgiris 3–1 Atletas 1995 Žalgiris 3–0 Atletas1996 Žalgiris 3–2 Atletas1997 Žalgiris 3–0 Olimpas1998 Žalgiris 3–1 Atletas1999 Žalgiris 3–0 Lietuvos Rytas2000 Lietuvos Rytas 3–1 Žalgiris2001 Žalgiris 3–2 Lietuvos Rytas2002 Lietuvos Rytas 4–3 Žalgiris2003 Žalgiris 4–2 Lietuvos Rytas2004 Žalgiris 4–0 Lietuvos Rytas2005 Žalgiris 4–0 Lietuvos Rytas2006 Lietuvos Rytas 4–0 Žalgiris2007 Žalgiris 4–2 Lietuvos Rytas2008 Žalgiris 4–1 Lietuvos Rytas2009 Lietuvos Rytas 4–1 Žalgiris2010 Lietuvos Rytas 4–3 Žalgiris 2011 Žalgiris 4–1 Lietuvos Rytas2012 Žalgiris 3–0 Lietuvos Rytas2013 Žalgiris 4–0 Lietuvos Rytas2014 Žalgiris 4–2 Neptūnas2015 Žalgiris 4–0 Lietuvos Rytas2016 Žalgiris 4–1 Neptūnas2017 Žalgiris 4–1 Lietkabelis2018 Žalgiris 4–1 Lietuvos Rytas2019 Žalgiris 3–0 Rytas2020 Finals were not held2021 Žalgiris 3–0 Rytas2022 Rytas 4–1 Lietkabelis2023 Žalgiris 3–2 Rytas2024 Rytas 3–1 Žalgiris2025 Žalgiris 3–2 Rytas2026 Žalgiris 3–0 Juventus
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) 2025 – Andrea Trinchieri 2026 – Tomas Masiulis
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 Ąžuolas Tubelis.
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 yearPlayer (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 Žalgiris Kaunas 1994–95 Gintaras Einikis (2×) Žalgiris Kaunas 1995–96 Rimas Kurtinaitis Žalgiris Kaunas 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 Eurelijus Žukauskas Žalgiris Kaunas 2000–01 Ramūnas Šiškauskas Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2001–02 Arvydas Macijauskas Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2002–03 Arvydas Macijauskas (2×) Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2003–04 Tanoka Beard Žalgiris Kaunas 2004–05 Mindaugas Timinskas Žalgiris Kaunas 2005–06 Andrius Šležas Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2006–07 Tanoka Beard (2×) Žalgiris Kaunas 2007–08 Marcus Brown Žalgiris Kaunas 2008–09 Chuck Eidson Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2009–10 Martynas Gecevičius Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2010–11 Paulius Jankūnas Žalgiris Kaunas 2011–12 Tomas Delininkaitis Žalgiris Kaunas 2012–13 Mindaugas Kuzminskas Žalgiris Kaunas 2013–14 Paulius Jankūnas (2×) Žalgiris Kaunas 2014–15 Artūras Milaknis Žalgiris Kaunas 2015–16 Jerome Randle Žalgiris Kaunas Congratulations Jerome Randle on being named... 2016–17 Edgaras Ulanovas Žalgiris Kaunas 2017–18 Brandon Davies Žalgiris Kaunas 2018–19 Edgaras Ulanovas (2×) Žalgiris Kaunas 2019–20 Finals not held 2020–21 Thomas Walkup Žalgiris Kaunas 2021–22 Arnas Butkevičius Rytas Vilnius 2022–23 Isaiah Taylor Žalgiris Kaunas 2023–24 Marcus Foster Rytas Vilnius 2024–25 Sylvain Francisco Žalgiris Kaunas 2025–26 Ąžuolas Tubelis Žalgiris Kaunas
Multi-time winners Player Team(s) No. Years Gintaras Einikis Žalgiris Kaunas 1994, 1995 Arvydas Macijauskas Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 2002, 2003 Tanoka Beard Žalgiris Kaunas 2004, 2007 Paulius Jankūnas Žalgiris Kaunas 2011, 2014 Edgaras Ulanovas Žalgiris Kaunas 2017, 2019
By player nationality
Number Country Lithuania United States Ukraine France
By club Number Team Žalgiris Kaunas Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius / Rytas Vilnius
See also LKL LKL MVP LKL Finals LKL Finals MVP King Mindaugas Cup King Mindaugas Cup MVP LKF Cup List of Lithuanian basketball league champions Basketball in Lithuania
References
External links Official LKL website Official LKL YouTube.com channel Lithuanian league at Eurobasket.com