TheLiga Nacional de Básquetbol (abbreviatedLNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of theArgentinebasketball league system. The league is under the auspices of the Basketball Clubs' Association (inSpanish:Asociación de Clubes de Básquetbol). The LNB's predecessor league is the now defunctCampeonato Argentino de Clubes, which was organized by theArgentine Basketball Confederation.
The league was created through the efforts ofbasketball coachLeón Najnudel, andsports journalist Osvaldo Orcasitas, in the 1980s, to make Argentine men'sclub basketball more competitive, through the merging of the many existing local leagues.[3] It is designed like theNBA, with a regular season,all-star game, andplayoffs. However, unlike the NBA, the LNB has apromotion and relegation system, with theLa Liga Argentina (LLA), the league level that is immediately below the LNB.
Before the league was established, the regular tournament wasCampeonato Argentino de Clubes where teams from all the provinces took part. The league had a regional format and playoffs.
For the 1984 edition there was 64 teams. The association decided to retire 10 teams, moving them to "Primera Nacional A".[4] Of those teams, 4 were from city ofBuenos Aires, and the provinces ofBuenos Aires,Córdoba andSanta Fe were represented by 2 teams each.
As a result, a number of 54 teams played the Argentino de clubes. At the end of the tournament, the six best placed team would promote to Primera A, and the rest of the clubs would be relegated to Primera B (second division).[5]
León Najnudel with the ball in the first LNB game ever: Argentino de Firmat v.San Lorenzo (in red uniform), 26 April 1985
The first edition of Liga Nacional was played within 1985, with 16 teams participating although Independiente de Tucumán abandoned the championship for economic reasons. The first game was played on April 26, 1985,[6] whenSan Lorenzo de Almagro faced Argentino de Firmat atEstadio Obras Sanitarias.
Ferro Carril Oeste was the first LNB champion after defeatingAtenas de Córdoba in 3 games. The next season (1986), Ferro Carril Oeste won its second consecutive title, beatingOlimpo de Bahía Blanca in 5 games (3–1 on aggregate). TheVerdolaga played its third consecutive final series in 1987, but was finally defeated by Atenas, that won the first of 9 titles, being the most winning LNB team to date.
In 1988 Atenas won a second championship beatingRiver Plate and the next year Ferro won another title, being the only title won byLeón Najnudel as coach.
Following a system similar to the European basketball leagues, the Liga Nacional featurespromotion and relegation. Contested by 20 teams, the top division is divided in two stages: the first one consists of a doubleround-robin competition, with standings decided by a points system. At the end of the season, teams placed 1st to 16th advance to theplayoffs, while the last 2 teams play a series to avoid relegation.
The playoffs stage is divided in four parts, where winning teams qualify to the next stage while defeated teams retire from the tournament. The successive stages are quarter finals, semi-finals and the finals. Quarter and semi-finals are played in a 2-2-1 format (best-of-five) while finals are played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, which rounds arebest-of-seven series.
These are the yearly individual awards are given by the league as a recognition to themost valuable player (in both, regular season and finals) and the top scorer.Leonardo Gutiérrez was chosen finals MVP a record of 4 times, whileJoe Bunn is the most times top scorer (5 seasons).
As of July 2025[update], 18 players have their jerseys retired. Atenas was the team which started this practice (in 2002, with legendaryMarcelo Milanesio's #9).[11][12][13]
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