2020–21 LBA season

The 2020–21 LBA season was the 99th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the men's top tier professional basketball division of the Italian basketball league system. The regular season started on September 26, 2020, and finished on May 2, 2021.

On 11 June, Virtus Segafredo Bologna won its 16th title, defeating 4–0 AX Armani Exchange Milano in the national finals.

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
For he new season, after the first wave of coronavirus pandemic in Italy, the Serie A league decided to bring the number of teams from 17 of the previous season, to 18. Because the 2019–20 season was interrupted without winners and relegated, it was decided that one team from the Serie A2 had to be promoted to the Serie A.

But four teams, Roma, Pistoia, Cremona and U.S. Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, were going through financial trouble which put at risk their participation to the 2020–21 season. Among them only Pistoia couldn't finalize the subscription and therefore relegated to the Serie A2.

Basket Torino first and then Scaligera Verona were invited to the highest league but they both declined, so that the final number of the teams was set to be 16.

Virtus Roma withdrawal
In December Virtus Roma had to face an unsustainable financial crisis. Claudio Toti (owner of the team) was looking for an exchange of ownership but no relevant offer was made that could save the team from an inevitable bankruptcy. At the end, on December 9, the final decision was taken and the official withdrawal from the league was submitted to the Italian Basketball Federation. At that moment Roma had played 9 games with only 2 wins and was holding the 15th position in the league table.

All the games from Virtus Roma were voided and the team disappeared from the official website.

Venues and locations


Source: 

Referees
A total of 38 FIP officials set to work on the 2020–21 season in Lega Basket Serie A:

• Beniamino Manuel Attard (Siracusa)

• Lorenzo Baldini (Florence)

• Mark Bartoli (Trieste)

• Roberto Begnis (Cremona)

• Mauro Belfiore (Naples)

• Gabriele Bettini (Bologna)

• Andrea Bongiorni (Pisa)

• Matteo Boninsegna (Milan)

• Denny Borgioni (Rome)

• Christian Borgo (Vicenza)

• Federico Brindisi (Turin)

• Gianluca Capotorto (Rome)

• Guido Federico Di Francesco (Teramo)

• Giacomo Dori (Venice)

• Massimiliano Filippini (Bologna)

• Martino Galasso (Siena)

• Guido Giovannetti (Terni)

• Valerio Grigioni (Rome)

• Saverio Lanzarini (Bologna)

• Carmelo Lo Guzzo (Pisa)

• Alessandro Martolini (Rome)

• Manuel Mazzoni (Grosseto)

• Dario Morelli (Brindisi)

• Alessandro Nicolini (Palermo)

• Sergio Noce (Latina)

• Fabrizio Paglialunga (Taranto)

• Carmelo Paternicò (Enna)

• Giulio Pepponi (Perugia)

• Alessandro Perciavalle (Turin)

• Marco Pierantozzi (Ascoli Piceno)

• Denis Quarta (Turin)

• Michele Rossi (Arezzo)

• Tolga Ozge Sahin (Messina)

• Gianluca Sardella (Rimini)

• Andrea Valzani (Milan)

• Alessandro Vicino (Bologna)

• Marco Vita (Ancona)
 * Notes
 * Newly promoted to the Serie A

Rules
Each team is allowed either five or seven foreign players under two formulas:
 * 1) 5 foreigners plus #5 Italian or homegrown players
 * 2) 6 foreigners plus #6 Italian or homegrown players

Each club can choose the 5+5 formula, that consists of five Italian players and five foreign players, or the 6+6 formula.

As in previous seasons, LBA clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,500 people.

Regular season
In the regular season, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The matchdays are from September 26, 2020, to May 2, 2021.

Statistics
As of May 10, 2021

Individual game highs
Source: RealGM

Team statistics

 * Notes
 * The team with the least turnovers per game

Playoffs
The LBA playoffs quarterfinals and semifinals are best of five formats, while the finals series are best of seven format. The playoffs will start in May 2021, to finish in June 2021, depending on result.