# BK Liepāja

BK Liepāja, known as Betsafe/Liepāja for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club in Liepāja, Latvia playing in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League and Latvian Basketball League.
Liepāja team's greatest achievement in Latvian Basketball League came in 1997 when it won second place. It has also come in third in 2000, 2011, 2012, and 2023.

## History

Basketball team named “Sarkanais metalurgs” from the city of Liepāja first won Latvian SSR championship in 1963. During the years teams changed names, since 1991, after Latvia regained independence from Soviet Union, according to sponsorships. Previous team names were Liepājas Metalurgs, Baltika/Kaija, BK Liepāja, Līvu alus/Liepāja, Liepājas Lauvas, Liepāja/Triobet.
In May 2018, the team was reorganized into Liepājas Basketbols with the goal of creating a unified basketball system for Liepāja for junior and professional player development. The team announced the beginning of its sponsorship by Betsafe following Betsson's decision to merge the Triobet brand, which previously sponsored BK Liepāja, into that brand.
Since 2020, with the hiring of Latvian National team assistant and 2018 FIBA U18 European Championship silver medalist Artūrs Visockis-Rubenis as their head coach, BK Liepāja focuses on building teams around new talents.
In 2021/2022 season BK Liepāja made their international debut, competing in newly founded European North Basketball League. Liepāja won one of five games and finished the tournament at 5th place.
During the 2022/2023 season Liepāja won the bronze medal in Latvian league. Many players established themselves for the next level. After an excellent season with Liepāja, Kārlis Šiliņš signed in German Bundesliga. Renārs Birkāns signed with 10-time Latvian champion BK Ventspils.

## Players
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
| C | Rinalds Mālmanis | Klāvs Dubults | Henriks Bajārs |
| PF | Rihards Kuksiks | Roberts Freimanis | Vitalii Kuznetsov |
| SF | Rodijs Mačoha | Kristaps Miglinieks | Kristiāns Šulcs |
| SG | Kristaps Ķilps | Mārtiņš Kilups | |
| PG | Edgars Lasenbergs | Ričards Vitoļskis | |

## Season by season

| Season | League | Pos. | Baltic League | Pos. | Latvian-Estonian League | Pos. |
| 1991–92 | LBL | 8th | | |
| 1992–93 | LBL | 8th | | |
| 1993–94 | LBL | 11th | | |
| 1994–95 | LBL | 9th | | |
| 1995–96 | LBL | 7th | | |
| 1996–97 | LBL | 2nd | | |
| 1997–98 | LBL | 5th | | |
| 1998–99 | LBL | 5th | | |
| 1999–00 | LBL | 3rd | | |
| 2000–01 | LBL | 4th | | |
| 2001–02 | LBL | 7th | | |
| 2002–03 | LBL | 4th | | |
| 2003–04 | LBL | 5th | | |
| 2004–05 | LBL | 5th | Challenge Cup | 5th |
| 2005–06 | LBL | 6th | Elite Division | 13th |
| 2006–07 | LBL | 4th | | |
| 2007–08 | LBL | 6th | Challenge Cup | 4th |
| 2008–09 | LBL | 6th | Challenge Cup | 8th |
| 2009–10 | LBL | 5th | Elite Division | 9th |
| 2010–11 | LBL | 3rd | Elite Division | 12th |
| 2011–12 | LBL | 3rd | Elite Division | 14th |
| 2012–13 | LBL | 9th | Regular season | Regular season |
| 2013–14 | LBL | 6th | Round of 16 | Round of 16 |
| 2014–15 | LBL | 4th | Round of 16 | Round of 16 |
| 2015–16 | LBL | 4th | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist |
| 2016–17 | LBL | 6th | Quarterfinalist | Quarterfinalist |
| 2017–18 | LBL | 8th | Regular season | Regular season |
| 2018–19 | LBL | 7th | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | 13th |
| 2019–20 | LBL | 7th | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | cancelled |
| 2020–21 | LBL | 3rd | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | 7th |
| 2021–22 | LBL | 6th | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | 12th |
| 2022–23 | LBL | 3rd | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | 10th |
| 2023–24 | LBL | 4th | | | Latvian–Estonian Basketball League | 11th |

## Notable players

* Edgars Jeromanovs
* Mareks Jurevičus
* Mārtiņš Meiers
* Mareks Mejeris
* Jānis Porziņģis
* Artūrs Štālbergs
* Jānis Timma
* Raimonds Vaikulis
* Uģis Viļums
* Paul Butorac
* Vernon Hamilton
* Josh Mayo
* Ashton Mitchell
* Malcolm Griffin
* Kris Richard
* Martynas Andriukaitis
* Valdas Dabkus
* Laimonas Kisielius