Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional

National Professional Basketball League
Current season, competition or edition:; 2024 LNBP season
Sport	Basketball
Founded	March 11, 2000; 24 years ago
Director	Sergio Velázquez
Motto	Cree en tu juego; (Believe in your game)
No. of teams	16
Country	Mexico
Headquarters	Mexico City, Mexico
Continent	FIBA Americas
Most recent; champion(s)	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey ; (5th title)
Most titles	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey (5 titles)
TV partner(s)	Caliente TV; Canal 26; Canal 66; Capital 21; Hi Sports; Multimedios; TV4; TVC Deportes
Official website	LNBP.mx

The National Professional Basketball League (Spanish: Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional or LNBP), officially known as the Liga Caliente LNBP for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 10 teams.

Famous basketball players who have played in the league include Jamario Moon,^[3] Dennis Rodman,^[4] Sun Mingming,^[5] Horacio Llamas^[6] and many others.

History

Foundation

In January 2000, some teams of CIMEBA (Circuito Mexicano de Básquetbol), the national basketball league in Mexico at the time, exited the league, citing CIMEBA's financial difficulties, and decided to form a new league.^[7] On March 11, 2000 the league was founded in the city of Durango with 11 teams participating. These were the founding teams, with the respective city and state:^[8]

Algodoneros de la Comarca (Torreon, Coahuila)
Correcaminos Matamoros de la UAT (Matamoros, Tamaulipas)
Correcaminos Reynosa de la UAT (Reynosa, Tamaulipas)
Correcaminos Tampico de la UAT (Tampico, Tamaulipas)
Correcaminos Victoria de la UAT (Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas)
Dorados de Chiuhuahua (Chihuahua, Chihuahua)
Garzas de Plata de la UAEH (Pachuca, Hidalgo)
Indios de la UACJ (Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua)
La Ola Roja del Distrito Federal (Mexico City, Distrito Federal)
Osos de Saltillo (Saltillo, Coahuila)
Vaqueros de Agua Prieta (Agua Prieta, Sonora)

The first president was Modesto Robledo.^[9] The LNBP set out to support and develop professional basketball in Mexico. The first edition of the league started on August 7, 2000^[10] and finished in December, with the regular season finishing on November 11 and the playoffs starting on November 14.^[11] The first game was played in Torreón between Algodoneros de Torreón and Dorados de Chihuahua at the Auditorio Municipal: Dorados won, 80–78.^[12] The league coexisted in its first seasons with CIMEBA.^[13]

Teams

Location of the 2024 LNBP teams

Team	City	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined	Head coach
East Division
Abejas de León	León, Guanajuato	Domo de la Feria	4,463	2009		Javier Muñoz
Correbasket UAT	Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas	Gimnasio Multidisciplinario UAT Victoria	2,600	2000	2022	Marcus Moore
Dorados de Chihuahua	Chihuahua City, Chihuahua	Gimnasio Manuel Bernardo Aguirre	9,600	2000	2019	Guillermo Narvarte
Freseros de Irapuato	Irapuato, Guanajuato	Inforum Irapuato	3,000	2023		Walter McCarty
Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	Monterrey, Nuevo León	Gimnasio Nuevo León	5,000	2001		Pablo García
Halcones de Xalapa	Xalapa, Veracruz	Gimnasio USBI	2,638	2003	2021	Paco Olmos
Panteras de Aguascalientes	Aguascalientes City, Aguascalientes	Gimnasio Hermanos Carreón	3,000	2003	2023	José Martínez
Santos del Potosí	San Luis Potosí City, San Luis Potosí	Auditorio Miguel Barragán	3,400	2003	2023	Manolo Cintrón
West Division
Astros de Jalisco	Guadalajara, Jalisco	Arena Astros	3,509	2019		Leandro García
El Calor de Cancún	Cancún, Quintana Roo	Polifórum Benito Juárez	4,800	2024		Juan José Pidal
Diablos Rojos del México	Benito Juárez, Mexico City	Gimnasio Olímpico Juan de la Barrera	5,242	2024		Nicolás Casalánguida
Halcones Rojos Veracruz	Veracruz City, Veracruz	Auditorio Benito Juárez	4,000	2003	2023	Carlos Rivera
Lobos Plateados de la BUAP	Puebla City, Puebla	Arena BUAP	3,500	2004	2024	Claudio Arrigoni
Mineros de Zacatecas	Zacatecas City, Zacatecas	Gimnasio Marcelino González	3,458	2017	2022	Pedro Carrillo
Plateros de Fresnillo	Fresnillo, Zacatecas	Gimnasio Solidaridad Municipal	4,500	2019		Sebastián Ginóbili
Soles de Mexicali	Mexicali, Baja California	Auditorio PSF	4,779	2005		José Esteban Gatti

^[14]

Format

Regular season

The regular season is played in round-robin format in which the 8 best-placed teams qualify to the postseason. For every game won 2 points are added and for every game lost one point is added. For example: If team one played 10 games and won 7, losing the remaining 3, it would have 17 points; 14 points for the 7 games won and 3 points for the games lost.

Playoffs

The eight top-seeded teams play each other. The 1st-placed team plays the 8th-place team while the 2nd plays the 7th and the 3rd plays the 6th and so on. The semi-finals are played like the quarterfinals while the Serie Final is played by the two teams remaining with the best-placed team having home field advantage.

List of champions

Season	Champion	Result	Runner-up
2000	Correcaminos UAT Tampico	4–2	Correcaminos UAT Victoria
2001	Gallos de Pelea de Ciudad Juárez	4–1	Lobos UAdeC
2002	Correcaminos UAT Victoria	4–3	Correcaminos UAT Matamoros
2003	Panteras de Aguascalientes	4–2	La Ola Roja del Distrito Federal
2004	Santos de San Luis	4–2	Halcones de Xalapa
2005	Halcones de Xalapa	4–1	Lobos UAdeC
2006	Soles de Mexicali	4–3	Halcones de Xalapa
2007–08	Halcones de Xalapa	4–3	Soles de Mexicali
2008–09	Halcones de Xalapa	4–2	Soles de Mexicali
2009–10	Halcones de Xalapa	4–1	Halcones Rojos Veracruz
2010–11	Toros de Nuevo Laredo	4–2	Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2011–12	Halcones Rojos Veracruz	4–1	Toros de Nuevo Laredo
2012–13	Toros de Nuevo Laredo	4–2	Halcones de Xalapa
2013–14	Halcones Rojos Veracruz	4–3	Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2014–15	Soles de Mexicali	4–1	Pioneros de Quintana Roo
2015–16	Pioneros de Quintana Roo	4–3	Soles de Mexicali
2016–17	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	4–2	Soles de Mexicali
2017–18	Soles de Mexicali	4–1	Capitanes de Ciudad de México
2018–19	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	4–2	Capitanes de Ciudad de México
2019–20	Soles de Mexicali	4–3	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey
2020	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	3–1	Aguacateros de Michoacán
2021	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	4–0	Astros de Jalisco
2022	Abejas de León	4–0	Astros de Jalisco
2023	Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	4–1	Astros de Jalisco

Championships

Team	Championship	Runner-up	Year(s) won
Fuerza Regia de Monterrey	5	1	2016–17, 2018–19, 2020, 2021, 2023
Soles de Mexicali	4	4	2006, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2019–20
Halcones de Xalapa	4	3	2005, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
Halcones Rojos Veracruz	2	1	2011–12, 2013–14
Toros de Nuevo Laredo	2	1	2010–11, 2012–13
Pioneros de Quintana Roo	1	3	2015–16
Correcaminos UAT Victoria	1	1	2002
Correcaminos UAT Tampico	1	0	2000
Gallos de Pelea de Ciudad Juárez	1	0	2001
Panteras de Aguascalientes	1	0	2003
Santos de San Luis	1	0	2004
Abejas de León	1	0	2022
Astros de Jalisco	0	3
Capitanes de Ciudad de México	0	2
Lobos UAdeC	0	2
Aguacateros de Michoacán	0	1
Correcaminos UAT Matamoros	0	1
Ola Roja del Distrito Federal	0	1

Copa Independencia winners

The Copa Independencia (Independence Cup) was a tournament created by the LNBP.

Season	Champion	Runner-up
2004	Lobos UAdeC	Lechugueros de León
2005	Lobos UAdeC	Correcaminos UAT Victoria
2006	Lobos Grises UAD	Halcones de Xalapa
2007–08	Lobos Grises UAD	Halcones Rojos Veracruz

Former teams

References

^ includes Canal 6
^ includes TVC Deportes 2
^ Se impone Fuerza Regia a Selección Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine. June 24, 2006. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
^ Rodman comes back, first in Mexico. October 12, 2004. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
^ Fuerza Regia le quitó lo invicto a Halcones UV. October 28, 2007. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
^ Mexicali o Saltillo van contra Fuerza Regia en la LNBP. November 1, 2005. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.
^ "Algodoneros su reto: los play offs". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). July 29, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
^ "Equipos y sedes". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 17, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
^ "Habrá dos equipos en Guadalajara". El Informador (in Spanish). April 16, 2000. p. 9C.
^ "Jalisco no tendrá equipo". El Informador (in Spanish). August 3, 2000. p. 8C.
^ "LNBP, Grupos". lnbp.com.mx. Archived from the original on December 4, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
^ "Noticias de agosto 2000". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 4, 2001. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
^ "Dispuesto Reyes al diálogo". El Informador (in Spanish). November 2, 2001. p. 8C.
^ "Tendrá LNBP 3 equipos más". heraldo.mx. El Heraldo. 1999-03-13. Archived from the original on 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-07.

External links

Official site
Mexican league on Latinbasket.com (in English)

[1] udes Canal 6

[2] udes TVC Deportes 2

[3] Se impone Fuerza Regia a Selección Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine. June 24, 2006. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

[4] Rodman comes back, first in Mexico. October 12, 2004. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

[5] Fuerza Regia le quitó lo invicto a Halcones UV. October 28, 2007. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

[6] Mexicali o Saltillo van contra Fuerza Regia en la LNBP. November 1, 2005. Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

[7] "Algodoneros su reto: los play offs". El Siglo de Torreón (in Spanish). July 29, 2003. Retrieved April 9, 2020.

[8] "Equipos y sedes". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on December 17, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

[9] "Habrá dos equipos en Guadalajara". El Informador (in Spanish). April 16, 2000. p. 9C.

[10] "Jalisco no tendrá equipo". El Informador (in Spanish). August 3, 2000. p. 8C.

[lnbp00-11] "LNBP, Grupos". lnbp.com.mx. Archived from the original on December 4, 2000. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

[12] "Noticias de agosto 2000". lnbp.com.mx (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 4, 2001. Retrieved April 8, 2020.

[13] "Dispuesto Reyes al diálogo". El Informador (in Spanish). November 2, 2001. p. 8C.

[14] "Tendrá LNBP 3 equipos más". heraldo.mx. El Heraldo. 1999-03-13. Archived from the original on 2019-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-07.

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