The 2022–23 Lebanese Basketball League, also known as the Division 1,^[1] is the 27th season of the Lebanese Basketball League (LBL), the top-tier competition for professional men's teams in Lebanon. The season began on 2 October 2022.^[2]

Beirut were the defending champions, having won the previous season. They finished fourth in the season, after losing to Sagesse 82-73 for 3rd place.

Teams

The league expanded from ten to twelve teams. Moutahed left the league, while Antranik, NSA and Leaders Club joined for this season.

Antranik

Beirut:
Al Riyadi
Beirut Club
Dynamo
Sagesse

Atlas

Champville

Hoops Club

Homenetmen

Leaders

NSA

Byblos

Locations of teams in the Lebanese Basketball League 2021–22

Regular season

Before the season, Champville rebranded as Maristes due to a conflict between the school and the club. Also losing their homecourt, Maristes used the Central Court in Jounieh before using the Antoine Choueiri Stadium in Ghazir as homecourt.

Sagesse and Dynamo fought for the season lead before Dynamo stayed there after their home win against Sagesse. Beirut finished third after defeating Riyadi 105-99 at Riyadi's home court and the latter settled for fourth.

Leaders finished 5th due to their face-to-face advantage against Maristes who finished 6th.

Hoops finished 7th being the only team not in the top 4 to end the regular season with a positive point difference.

Homenetmen finished 8th in the last game after a crucial win against Antranik who also fought for 8th. Coach Marwan Khalil transformed Homenetmen from a relegation-zone team to a midfield team and qualified for the second round

NSA finished 10th in their first season, Atlas finished 11th and will face the runner-up of the 2nd division Final in the relegation playoff while Byblos finished last and is directly relegated to second division.

Second stage

The second stage began on 8 April 2023.^[3]

Signing Duop Reath proved to be crucial for Riyadi, as they ended up top their group, Dynamo second, Leaders third and Homenetmen 4th

Sagesse contiuned to dominate their group, while Beirut finished 2nd, Hoops 3rd despite a shocking win over Beirut, and Maristes a disappointing 4th

Finals

In the first semi-final, Riyadi defeated Sagesse 3-0 on tight margins (4, 5 and 3 pts). Duop Reath proved again to be a crucial player for Riyadi.

In the other semi-final, Dynamo destroyed Beirut, even with the return of Shabazz Muhammad in Beirut's ranks.

The first game of the final ended in a shock win for Dynamo against Riyadi 87-78. The absence of Karim Zeinoun affected the team, the Lebanese players were virtually absent, which profited Dynamo to take the win

Riyadi made a comeback against Dynamo, with multiples 3 pts scored, especially by Karim Zeinoun, voted Man of the Match. The game ended 92-84 for Riyadi at home.

At the third game, Dynamo had the lead at the first half before fumbling it with multiple missed shots and loads of turnovers. Riyadi managed to win the game 82-73.

References