The 2018–19 LBA season, also known as Serie A PosteMobile for sponsorship reasons, was the 97th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the men's top tier professional basketball division of the Italian basketball league system (LBA). The regular season began on October 7, 2018, and finished on May 12, 2019, with the playoffs started on May 18 (dependent on an Italian club qualifying for the 2019 EuroLeague Final Four, 2019 EuroCup Playoffs or for the 2019 Champions League Playoffs) and finished on June 22.
As in previous years, Molten Corporation provided the official ball for all matches.
AX Armani Exchange Milano were the defending champions.
Umana Reyer Venezia won their 4th title by beating Banco di Sardegna Sassari in game 7 of the finals.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of 16 teams contested the league, including 15 sides from the 2017–18 season and one promoted from the 2017–18 Serie A2.
Alma Pallacanestro Trieste was the promoted club from the Serie A2 Basket after beating Novipiù Casale Monferrato at game 3 of league's playoffs, and returned to the top division after a 14 years absence.
Trieste replaced Betaland Capo d'Orlando who were relegated during the previous season.
Number of teams by region Number of teams Region Team(s)5AX Armani Exchange MilanoGermani Basket BresciaOpenjobmetis VareseRed October CantùVanoli Cremona2Grissin Bon Reggio EmiliaSegafredo Virtus Bologna1New Basket BrindisiSidigas AvellinoAlma Pallacanestro TriesteVL PesaroFiat TorinoBanco di Sardegna SassariDolomiti Energia TrentoOriOra PistoiaUmana Reyer Venezia Notes 2017–18 LBA champion. 2017–18 Serie A2 champion.
Venues and locations
TeamHome cityArenaCapacityAlma Pallacanestro TriesteTriesteAllianz DomeAlma Trieste .MilanBanco di Sardegna SassariSassariPalaSerradimigniBanco di Sardegna Sassari .Dolomiti Energia TrentoTrentoBLM Group ArenaLa struttura, Trentino Volley .Fiat TorinoTurinPalaVelaFiat Torino .Germani Basket BresciaBresciaPalaLeonessaGermani Basket Brescia .Grissin Bon Reggio EmiliaReggio EmiliaPalaBigiGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia .New Basket BrindisiBrindisiPalaPentassugliaHappy Casa Brindisi .Openjobmetis VareseVareseEnerxenia ArenaOpenjobmetis Varese .OriOra PistoiaPistoiaPalaCarraraOriOra Pistoia .Red October CantùCantùPalaBancoDesio (in Desio)Red October Cantù .Segafredo Virtus BolognaBolognaUnipol ArenaUnipol Arena.PalaDozzaSegafredo Virtus Bologna .Sidigas AvellinoAvellinoPalaDelMauroSidigas Avellino .Umana Reyer VeneziaVenicePalasport TaliercioUmana Reyer Venezia .Vanoli CremonaCremonaPalaRadi Vanoli Cremona .VL PesaroPesaroAdriatic ArenaConsultinvest Pesaro .
Personnel and sponsorship Team Chairman Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorAlma Pallacanestro Trieste Gianluca Mauro Eugenio Dalmasson Andrea CoronicaAdidas Alma Agenzia per il lavoro, AllianzAX Armani Exchange Milano Livio Proli Simone Pianigiani Andrea Cinciarini Armani Banco di Sardegna Sassari Stefano Sardara Gianmarco Pozzecco Giacomo Devecchi Eye Sport Banco di Sardegna, TirreniaDolomiti Energia Trento Luigi Longhi Maurizio Buscaglia Andrés Pablo Forray Spalding Dolomiti EnergiaFiat Torino vacant Paolo Galbiati Giuseppe Poeta Kappa Fiat AutomobilesGermani Basket Brescia Graziella Bragaglio Andrea Diana David Moss Erreà Germani TrasportiGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia Maria Licia Ferrarini Stefano Pillastrini Riccardo Cervi Sportika Grissin Bon, MapeiNew Basket Brindisi Fernando Marino Francesco Vitucci Adrian Banks Adidas EnelOpenjobmetis Varese Marco Vittorelli Attilio Caja Giancarlo Ferrero Spalding OpenjobmetisOriOra Pistoia Roberto Maltinti Paolo Moretti Dominique Johnson Erreà OriOraRed October Cantù Irina Gerasimenko Nicola Brienza Ike Udanoh Eye Sport Red October Steel WorksSegafredo Virtus Bologna vacant Aleksandar Đorđević Pietro Aradori Macron Segafredo ZanettiSidigas Avellino Giuseppe Sampietro Massimo Maffezzoli Ariel Filloy Joma Sidigas, CitroënUmana Reyer Venezia Luigi Brugnaro Walter De Raffaele MarQuez Haynes Erreà UmanaVanoli Cremona Aldo Vanoli Romeo Sacchetti Giulio Gazzotti Erreà Ferramenta VanoliVL Pesaro Ario Costa Matteo Boniciolli Andrea Ancellotti Erreà Consultinvest, ButanGas
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia Sacked 17 May 2018 Pre-season Devis Cagnardi 23 May 2018 OriOra Pistoia Vincenzo Esposito Signed with Banco di Sardegna Sassari 19 May 2018 12 June 2018 Zare Markovski Mutual consent 22 May 2018 22 May 2018 Segafredo Virtus Bologna Alessandro Ramagli Sacked 25 May 2018 Stefano Sacripanti 12 June 2018 Red October Cantù Marco Sodini Resigned 29 May 2018 7 June 2018 Sidigas Avellino Stefano Sacripanti Sacked 1 June 2018 Nenad Vučinić Fiat Torino Paolo Galbiati Resigned 7 June 2018 Larry Brown 17 June 2018 Fiat Torino Larry Brown Mutual consent 12th (4–8) Paolo Galbiati VL Pesaro Massimo Galli Sacked 15th (4–10) Matteo Boniciolli Red October Cantù Evgeniy Pashutin Signed with Avtodor Saratov 11th (7–10) Nicola Brienza Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia Devis Cagnardi Sacked Stefano Pillastrini Banco di Sardegna Sassari Vincenzo Esposito Resigned 8th (9–10) Segafredo Virtus Bologna Stefano Sacripanti Sacked 11 March 2019 11 March 2019 OriOra Pistoia Alessandro Ramagli 28 March 2019 16th (5–18) Fabio Bongi (interim) 28 March 2019 OriOra Pistoia Fabio Bongi End of interim spell 31 March 2019 16th (5–19) Paolo Moretti 2 April 2019 Sidigas Avellino Nenad Vučinić Mutual consent 10 April 2019 7th (14–11) Massimo Maffezzoli 10 April 2019
Changes from 2017–18 As in previous seasons, LBA clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,500 people.Lega Società di Pallacanestro Serie A, REGOLAMENTO ESECUTIVO#Chapter 3.2 (G), Page 4 From 2017–18 season, all clubs must host their home playoffs matches in arenas with a seating capacity of at least 5,000 people.
Rules Each team is allowed either five or seven foreign players under two formulas: 5 foreigners from countries outside the European Union 3 foreigners from countries outside the EU, 4 foreigners from EU countries (also including those from countries signatory of the Cotonou Agreement)
Each club can choose the 5+5 formula, that consists of five Italian players and five foreign players, and the 3+4+5 formula, with five Italian players, three foreigners from countries outside the EU and four foreigners from EU countries or "Cotonou Countries".
At the end of the season there will be a prize of €500.000,00 for the top three ranked teams, that had chosen the 5+5 formula, considering the playing time of Italian players, and €200.000,00 for those teams that will obtain the best results with their youth sector.
Regular season In the regular season, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight first qualified teams advanced to the Playoffs, the last seven qualified teams were eliminated, while the last one qualified team was relegated and replaced by the winner of the playoffs of the second-level Serie A2 Basket. The matchdays were from October 7, 2018, to May 2019.
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. Team \ Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 AX Armani Exchange Milano 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Vanoli Cremona 5 3 8 5 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 Umana Reyer Venezia 7 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 Banco di Sardegna Sassari 14 8 4 3 4 6 9 10 8 10 11 11 9 6 6 5 7 8 8 11 11 11 11 9 9 8 7 5 5 4New Basket Brindisi 15 5 9 8 6 5 4 6 6 7 7 7 6 7 7 8 6 5 5 6 5 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5Dolomiti Energia Trento 12 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 15 10 9 8 10 10 10 12 12 11 10 9 8 10 8 8 6 6 6 9 6 Alma Pallacanestro Trieste 11 14 10 11 12 13 11 9 10 8 6 6 7 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 7 10 8 7 5 5 5 7 7 7 Sidigas Avellino 1 4 12 10 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 7 7 8 8 10 8 Openjobmetis Varese 8 11 7 6 7 8 6 3 4 3 4 4 2 4 5 6 5 7 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 9 9 10 6 9Red October Cantù 16 12 3 4 8 9 10 12 13 13 14 14 14 12 14 13 11 10 10 9 8 7 9 12 10 10 10 9 8 10Segafredo Virtus Bologna 6 10 6 7 10 7 7 8 9 6 9 8 10 8 8 7 8 6 7 7 10 9 7 10 11 11 11 11 11 11Germani Basket Brescia 9 9 11 12 11 11 12 11 12 9 8 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 12 12 12 12 12 12Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 3 7 13 14 13 14 14 16 15 16 16 16 15 13 12 14 14 16 16 16 16 16 15 13 15 14 14 14 13 13VL Pesaro 4 13 14 13 14 12 8 7 7 11 13 13 13 15 13 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15 15 14 14OriOra Pistoia 13 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 11 14 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 15 15Fiat Torino 10 6 5 9 9 10 13 13 14 12 12 12 12 14 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 13 15 13 13 13 13 16 16 Updated to match(es) played on May 12, 2019. Source: LBA
Leader of the Regular Season Qualification to Playoffs Relegation to Serie A2
Results
Notes AX Armani Exchange Milano won the game on the road 91-81, but OriOra Pistoia awarded 20-0 win over Milano due to playing James Nunnally while he was under suspension. Vanoli Cremona won the game on the road 105-100 after an overtime, but awarded 20-0 win over Banco di Sardegna Sassari due to coaching Gianmarco Pozzecco while he was under suspension.
Statistical leaders As of May 12, 2019.
Points RankNameTeam1. Frank Gaines Red October Cantù 20.32. Blackmon Jr. VL Pesaro 19.73. Erik McCree VL Pesaro 18.54. Davon Jefferson Red October Cantù 18.05. Aleksa Avramović Openjobmetis Varese 17.7
Assists RankNameTeam1. Luca Vitali Germani Basket Brescia 5.82. Mike James AX Armani Exchange Milano 5.13. Chris Wright Alma Pallacanestro Trieste 4.94. Tony Taylor Segafredo Virtus Bologna 4.85. Jaime Smith Banco di Sardegna Sassari 4.5
Rebounds RankNameTeam1. Egidijus Mockevičius VL Pesaro 11.52. Tyler Cain Openjobmetis Varese 10.83. Ousman Krubally OriOra Pistoia 10.14. Mangok Mathiang Vanoli Cremona 9.75. Jack Cooley Banco di Sardegna Sassari 9.0
Valuation RankNameTeam1. Davon Jefferson Red October Cantù 23.52. Caleb Green Sidigas Avellino 21.93. Ike Udanoh Sidigas Avellino 20.04. Egidijus Mockevičius VL Pesaro 19.45. Tyler Cain Openjobmetis Varese 19.4
Other Statistics Category Player Team Average Steals Aaron Craft Dolomiti Energia Trento Blocks Hamady N'Diaye Sidigas Avellino Turnovers Tony Mitchell OriOra Pistoia 2.9 Caleb Green Sidigas Avellino 2P% Mitchell Watt Umana Reyer Venezia 3P% Juan Fernández Alma Pallacanestro Trieste FT% James Blackmon VL Pesaro
Individual game highs Category Player Team Total Opponent Points Frank Gaines Red October Cantù AX Armani Exchange Milano (Mar 31, 19) Rebounds Egidijus Mockevičius VL Pesaro Fiat Torino (Jan 13, 19) Assists Mike James AX Armani Exchange Milano Banco di Sardegna Sassari (Dec 16, 18) Steals Dominic Artis VL Pesaro Fiat Torino (Jan 13, 19) Blocks Hamady N'Diaye Sidigas Avellino 5 Red October Cantù (Oct 6, 18) John Brown New Basket Brindisi Dolomiti Energia Trento (Jan 13, 19) Andrea Ancellotti VL Pesaro Dolomiti Energia Trento (Apr 14, 19) Three Pointers Jordan Hamilton Germani Basket Brescia Fiat Torino (Mar 24, 19) Source: RealGM
Awards
Finals MVP Austin Daye (Umana Reyer Venezia)
Most Valuable Player Drew Crawford (Vanoli Cremona)
Best Player Under 22 Tony Carr (Red October Cantù)
Best Coach Romeo Sacchetti (Vanoli Cremona)
Best Executive Simone Giofré (New Basket Brindisi)
Round MVP