After joining in the Baltic Basketball League
(BBL) only from the playoffs, Zalgiris Kaunas and Lietuvos Rytas decided to
pull out for good. The two Baltic powerhouses were followed by VEF Riga and
Neptunas Klaipeda, who also chose the VTB League over the Baltic League.
However, the BBL will not seize to exist, as
the remaining nine Lithuanian League (LKL) clubs, as well as teams from Latvia,
Estonia and Kazakhstan look set play for the BBL Cup.
The exact number of teams is still unclear, but
there should be between 20 and 24 clubs in the competition next year, with 5-7
teams from Estonia and Latvia, and two Kazakhstani sides, who will play all of
the games on the road.
From this season on the Baltic League will no
longer be separated into two divisions. The teams will be divided into three or
four groups, followed by a Top 16 stage and playoffs, starting with the
quarter-finals.
All playoff rounds will be played on a
home-and-away basis, with the winner decided by the overall point difference
over the two legs of the tie.
Due to a very difficult schedule neither of the
big Lithuanian clubs even considered playing in the competition this year.
However, there is still an opportunity to see
the best Baltic teams playing against each other in the BBL Super Cup Final
Four, which will feature the champions from the national championships of the three
Baltic states and the BBL Cup winner.
