2017–18 Pro Basketball League

The 2017–18 Pro Basketball League, for sponsorship reasons the EuroMillions Basketball League, was the 91th season of the Belgian Basketball League, first tier of basketball in Belgium. The defending champion was Oostende. The season started on 23 September 2017 and ended 14 June 2018.

Teams

Antwerp Giants changed its name to Telenet Giants Antwerp, following a sponsorship agreement with Telenet.^[1] Meanwhile, Telenet left Oostende which meant the sponsored club name disappeared after seven years.

Arenas and locations

Spirou

Liège

Leuven

Oostende

Giants

Okapi

Willebroek

Mons

Limburg

Brussels

Location of the 2017–18 Belgian Basketball League teams

Club	City	Arena	Capacity
Basic-Fit Brussels	Brussels	Piscine de Neder-Over-Hembeek	7003120000000000000♠1,200
Belfius Mons-Hainaut	Mons	Mons.Arena	7003400000000000000♠4,000
VOO Liège[lower-alpha 1]	Liège	Country Hall Ethias	7003500000000000000♠5,000
Crelan Okapi Aalstar	Aalst	Okapi Forum	7003280000000000000♠2,800
Hubo Limburg United	Hasselt	Alverberg Sporthal	7003173000000000000♠1,730
Kangoeroes Willebroek	Willebroek	Sporthal de Schalk	7003100000000000000♠1,000
Oostende	Ostend	Sleuyter Arena	7003500000000000000♠5,000
Proximus Spirou	Charleroi	Spiroudome	7003620000000000000♠6,200
Stella Artois Leuven Bears	Leuven	Sportoase	7003340000000000000♠3,400
Telenet Giants Antwerp	Antwerp	Lotto Arena	7003521800000000000♠5,218

1. ↑ Liège Basket started the season as "BetFirst Liège Basket", however it changed its name into "VOO Liège Basket" in February 2018.

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Basic-Fit Brussels	Serge Crèvecoeur	Spalding	Basic-Fit Fitness
Belfius Mons-Hainaut	Daniel Goethals	Jako	Belfius
VOO Liège	Laurent Constantiello	Jako	BetFirst
Crelan Okapi Aalstar	Jean-Marc Jaumin	Jartazi	Crelan
Hubo Limburg United	Ronnie McCollum	K1X	Hubo
Kangoeroes Willebroek	Damir Milačić	Jako
Oostende	Dario Gjergja	Spalding
Proximus Spirou	Brian Lynch	Spalding	Proximus
Stella Artois Leuven Bears	Ferried Naciri		Stella Artois
Telenet Giants Antwerp	Roel Moors	Spalding	Telenet

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Hubo Limburg United	Brian Lynch	Signed with Proximus Spirou	31 June 2017[2]	Pre-season	Ronnie McCollum	9 April 2017[3]
Proximus Spirou	Fluvio Bastianini	Mutual consent	19 March 2017[4]		Brian Lynch	9 April 2017[2]
Hubo Limburg United	Ronnie McCollum	Fired	17 November 2017 [5]	8th (2–6)	Pascal Angillis	17 November 2017[5]

Regular season

In the regular season, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight highest placed teams advance to the playoffs. The first games are played on 23 September 2017 and the regular season finishes on 20 May 2018.^[6]

Playoffs

The playoffs start on 26 May and end on 13, 15 or 17 June 2017. The winner of the playoffs is crowned Belgian national champion. In the quarterfinals and semifinals a best-of-three format is used, while the finals are played in a best-of-five format. The higher seeded team had home advantage and played games one, three and five (if possible) at home. Small bold numbers indicate team seeding.

Awards

Individual honours

Award	Player	Club	Ref.
Most Valuable Player	Jean Salumu	Oostende	[7]
Belgian Player of the Year	Jean Salumu	Oostende
Most Promising Player	Thomas Akyazili	Telenet Giants Antwerp
Coach of the Year	Dario Gjergja	Oostende

All-League Teams

All-Offensive Team		All-Defensive Team
Dušan Đorđević	Oostende	Paris Lee	Telenet Giants Antwerp
Garlon Green	Belfius Mons-Hainaut	Bill Amis	Okapi Aalstar
Jean Salumu	Oostende	Jean Salumu	Oostende
Chase Fieler	Oostende	Jean-Marc Mwema	Oostende
Seth Tuttle	Proximus Spirou	Tonye Jekiri	Oostende

In European competitions

References