Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė (English: King Mindaugas Cup) is an annual national domestic

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

cup competition between

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n professional teams. It is organised by the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

(Lietuvos krepšinio lyga – LKL). The tournament is named in honor of

Mindaugas Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...

, the first and only

King of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Lithuania, which was established as an absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three ducal dynasties that managed to stay in power—House ...

. The Final four event includes an annual LKL Three-point Shootout contest, LKL Future Cup was introduced in 2018 with Žalgiris and Rytas youth teams competing for the cup.

LKL Slam Dunk Contest The LKL Slam Dunk Contest was an annual Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) competition, that was originally held during the LKL All-Star Day, and later during the King Mindaugas Cup. The contest has been held almost every year, from the first A ...

was part of the Final four program until the event was removed in 2019.

History and format

The new tournament was presented to public on 1 December 2015, to replace the

LKF Cup The LKF Cup was an annual national domestic cup competition for Lithuanian professional basketball teams. It was organised by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (Lietuvos Krepšinio Federacija - LKF). The competition's full name was Lietuvos Kre ...

and the LKL All-Star Day. In

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the official name was Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup for sponsorship purposes, where Top 8 teams after 2 rounds in the

Lithuanian basketball league Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

competed in a 3-day tournament, in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Siemens Arena Avia Solutions Group Arena, located in southern part of Verkiai elderate of Vilnius, is the second largest arena in Lithuania. It generally hosts basketball games as well as concerts. The arena opened on October 30, 2004. The basketball club ...

. The format was where top team after 2 LKL rounds faced 8th team in the quarterfinals, second placed team faced 7th team and so on.

Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also ...

67-57 beat Žalgiris in the final. In

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Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup there was a slight change in the format, seeds where divided between 1-4 and 5-8 and a quarterfinal draw was introduced. Also, instead of a 3-day tournament, a Final four format was introduced where semi-finals and finals where played over the weekend. The first final four was held in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, where Žalgiris beat Lietkabelis 84–63 in the final. The official name of King Mindaugas Cup in

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changed to SIL King Mindaugas Cup due to sponsorship reasons. Pairing format was kept the same, seeds were divided into 1-4 and 5-8 seeds, and the quarterfinal matches were played at the higher seed's home court. Final four was held in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...

, where Žalgiris 81-62 beat Lietuvos Rytas. In the summer of 2018 it was announced about the expansion of the tournament. Teams from lower division league NKL were introduced and the tournament started in October 2018. The official name of King Mindaugas Cup changed back to Kidy Tour King Mindaugas Cup. The 2018-2019 tournament included 10 LKL clubs and 4 clubs from the NKL league. They competed in a four-round tournament. Top 6 LKL teams received automatic placements into the quarterfinals round and the bottom 4 teams had to compete against the 4 NKL clubs. For the first-time home and away matches were played in the quarterfinals round. The final four was held in Vilnius for the second time, where Rytas 70-67 beat Žalgiris in the final. In the summer of 2019 it was decided to change the format again, introducing two more clubs from the NKL, expanding the total number of teams to 16. 4 round system is kept the same, where bottom 6 LKL teams will be seeded versus the unseeded NKL clubs. Out of the 6 winners in the first round 2 teams that had the best record in their league last year will receive an automatic placement into the quarterfinals round, the other 4 teams will be paired and will play home and away games for the 2 remaining spots in the quarterfinals round. In the quarterfinals round teams that placed 1 to 4 last year will be seeded against teams that made their way through the second round. Final four will be held on the 15-16 of February, location is yet to be decided. In

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the official name was Citadele King Mindaugas Cup for sponsorship purposes. The 2021 tournament included 10 LKL clubs and 6 clubs from the NKL league. They competed in a two-round tournament. Top 4 LKL teams received automatic placements into the quarterfinals round and the 6 bottom LKL teams had to compete against 6 NKL clubs. The final four took place on the 13-14 of February and was held in

Panevėžys Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...

for the first time. In the final Žalgiris 78–69 beat Lietkabelis and defended its title.

Winners

Performance by club

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence.

Performers

References

External links