Draft:Rīgas Zeļļi

Rīgas Zeļļi is Latvian professional basketball team that is based in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in the summer of 2023.

History
On July 13, 2023 it was announced that a new team named Rīgas Zeļļi will take part in Latvian-Estonian Basketball League, Latvian Basketball League and Latvian Basketball Cup. Its president is sports manager Edgars Buļs and former player Artūrs Šēnhofs is taking the role of a general manager. Previously, both worked together as hosts of a basketball show "Ūdenszeļļi" on television.

Club offers everyone to become its member by donating money, in return having a word in teams' decisions. It has also created a mobile app for a team to communicate with teams' management. It presents itself as the most innovative sports organizations in Latvia.

On July 14, 2023 it was announced that the head coach of the team will be Juris Umbraško.

On September 19, Andris Biedriņš, the first Latvian basketball player ever drafted in the NBA, joined the club as its ambassador.

On September 30, 2023 Zeļļi played the first official game in a team's history beating Keila Coolbet in Arena Riga.

The first foreign player signed by Zeļļi was Georgian forward George Natsvlishvili. After the start of debut season Rīgas Zeļļi signed an American point guard Nigel Johnson. Later he was replaced by Canadian shooting guard Isiah Osborne.

On January 20, 2024, Rīgas Zeļļi announced that the team was joined by Aleksandrs Samoilovs, a two-time European silver medalist in Beach volleyball. It was meant to be a marketing campaign and he actually played in only one game, scoring two points against Viimsi KK.

On February 29, 2024 Rīgas Zeļļi signed a long-standing center of the Latvian national team Mārtiņš Meiers until the end of the season. 10 days later team also signed Australian center Jordan Hunter.