2022–23 VTB United League

The 2022–23 VTB United League was the 14th season of the VTB United League. It was the 10th season that the league functions as the Russian domestic top tier level. It started on 2 October 2022 with the regular season and ended on 16 May 2023 with the finals.

VTB United League
Season	2022–23
Duration	2 October 2022 – 20 January 2023 (First stage) 28 January – 26 March 2023 (Second stage) 31 March – 16 May 2023 (Playoffs)
Number of teams	12
Finals
Champions	UNICS
Runners-up	Lokomotiv-Kuban
Third place	CSKA Moscow
Fourth place	Zenit Saint Petersburg
Playoffs MVP	Nenad Dimitrijević
Records
Biggest home win	UNICS 109–54 Astana (16 October 2022)
Biggest away win	Astana 51–99 Samara (4 January 2023)
Highest scoring	UNICS 112–104 (OT) CSKA Moscow (15 February 2023)
Highest attendance	9,727 MINSK 70–92 Lokomotiv-Kuban (20 November 2022)
Lowest attendance	334 Astana 84–72 PARMA-PARI (13 October 2022)
← 2021–22 2023–24 → 1 Sponsored league name, referring to VTB Bank.

Zenit Saint Petersburg was the defending champion.

Format changes

For this season, the regular season will be divided into two phases since none team will participate in European competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the first phase, 12 teams will play two rounds, after which the teams will be divided into two groups: Group A with top six teams from first phase and Group B with last six teams from first phase. At the second phase, the teams will play among themselves in their groups for two more rounds. For the playoffs, all series will be played in best-of-seven playoffs, except for the quarterfinals that will be played in best-of-five playoffs.

Teams

A total of 12 teams contested the league, including 10 sides from the 2021–22 season (eight Russian teams, one Belarusian team and one Kazakhstani team) and two newly-joined Russian sides (Samara and MBA Moscow). Other two Russian sides (Uralmash Ekaterinburg and Runa Moscow) also applied to participate, but they did not fulfill the requirements to join the league.

Venues and locations

Astana

Avtodor

CSKA

Yenisey

Lokomotiv

MBA

Nizhny Novgorod

Parma

Samara

MINSK

UNICS

Zenit

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Locations of teams in the 2022–23 VTB United League

Team	Home city	Arena	Capacity
Astana	Astana	Arena Velotrack	9,270
Avtodor	Saratov	DS Kristall	5,500
CSKA Moscow	Moscow	Megasport Arena	13,344
Yenisey	Krasnoyarsk	Arena.Sever	4,000
Lokomotiv-Kuban	Krasnodar	Basket-Hall	7,500
MBA Moscow	Moscow	Basket Hall Moscow	5,000
MINSK	Minsk	Falcon Club Arena
		Minsk-Arena	15,000
Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod	Trade Union Sport Palace	5,500
PARMA-PARI	Perm	UDS Molot	7,000
Samara	Samara	Ice Sports Palace	5,000
UNICS	Kazan	Basket-Hall	7,000
Zenit Saint Petersburg	Saint Petersburg	Sibur Arena	6,381

First stage

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	CSKA Moscow	22	22	0	2165	1633	+532	44	Qualification to Group A
2	UNICS	22	20	2	1927	1583	+344	42
3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	22	16	6	1816	1563	+253	38
4	Pari Nizhny Novgorod	22	13	9	1659	1647	+12	35
5	MBA Moscow	22	13	9	1743	1705	+38	35
6	Lokomotiv-Kuban	22	12	10	1724	1689	+35	34
7	Samara	22	9	13	1706	1688	+18	31	Qualification to Group B
8	PARMA-PARI	22	9	13	1735	1800	−65	31
9	Avtodor	22	7	15	1751	1841	−90	29
10	Yenisey	22	6	16	1623	1772	−149	28
11	Astana	22	4	18	1434	1902	−468	26
12	MINSK	22	1	21	1338	1798	−460	23

Source: VTB United League

Results

Home \ Away	AST	AVT	CSK	ENI	LOK	MBA	MIN	NIZ	PAR	SAM	UNI	ZEN
Astana	—	70–69	64–101	57–88	67–98	69–103	77–48	60–80	84–72	51–99	41–79	75–93
Avtodor	94–72	—	75–102	86–81	84–100	72–68	88–77	69–71	94–95	74–69	71–83	91–79
CSKA Moscow	100–72	103–76	—	102–66	94–80	110–78	107–63	107–63	109–71	95–82	92–79	100–80
Yenisey	89–76	88–84	81–109	—	69–71	85–80	61–63	82–90	74–76	72–65	79–89	61–89
Lokomotiv-Kuban	73–53	89–76	64–84	75–71	—	73–86	74–56	63–73	88–86	79–70	70–82	62–68
MBA Moscow	81–59	85–70	75–92	89–76	89–76	—	81–62	55–88	102–87	71–60	81–97	76–75
MINSK	65–76	72–97	66–101	36–54	70–92	61–76	—	57–68	48–77	68–80	54–58	66–91
Pari Nizhny Novgorod	86–59	74–69	79–109	73–67	93–79	80–87	84–67	—	78–73	52–90	57–75	67–72
PARMA-PARI	94–74	89–83	74–83	88–75	85–92	78–70	85–62	85–83	—	81–83	82–89	60–65
Samara	93–58	87–82	72–85	92–86	77–80	74–82	78–71	60–83	80–63	—	74–86	70–82
UNICS	109–54	95–76	93–95	104–59	83–75	74–66	102–53	86–71	93–74	94–86	—	95–94
Zenit Saint Petersburg	88–66	92–71	80–85	78–59	73–71	87–62	91–53	76–66	91–60	93–65	79–82	—

Source: VTB United League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.

Second stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		CSK	UNI	ZEN	NIZ	LOK	MBA
1	CSKA Moscow	32	30	2	3060	2417	+643	62	Qualification to playoffs		—	91–77	86–90	76–75	94–74	94–70
2	UNICS	32	24	8	2724	2406	+318	56			112–104	—	69–80	86–85	70–103	73–58
3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	32	23	9	2621	2313	+308	55			69–72	83–78	—	83–67	90–92	73–71
4	Pari Nizhny Novgorod	32	17	15	2392	2409	−17	49			70–89	78–68	79–70	—	75–70	55–69
5	Lokomotiv-Kuban	32	17	15	2523	2470	+53	49			66–98	78–70	74–77	80–82	—	73–65
6	MBA Moscow	32	15	17	2413	2504	−91	47			81–91	63–94	62–90	71–67	60–89	—

Source: VTB United League

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		PAR	AVT	ENI	SAM	AST	MIN
1	PARMA-PARI	32	16	16	2498	2530	−32	48	Qualification to playoffs		—	83–91	79–78	72–67	94–59	82–67
2	Avtodor	32	15	17	2553	2598	−45	47			85–59	—	58–73	93–83	79–70	78–70
3	Yenisey	32	14	18	2394	2445	−51	46			81–76	82–86	—	79–74	77–67	75–55
4	Samara	32	13	19	2514	2452	+62	45			74–77	83–87	69–74	—	89–75	90–56
5	Astana	32	5	27	2146	2736	−590	37			73–74	73–80	67–83	73–92	—	86–82
6	MINSK	32	3	29	2008	2566	−558	35			55–67	81–65	42–69	78–87	84–69	—

Source: VTB United League

Playoffs

	Quarterfinals										Semifinals												Finals
	2	UNICS	101	94	73	—	—	3
	7	PARMA-PARI	76	59	52	—	—	0
											2	UNICS	94	68	71	77	78	80	80	4
											3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	67	59	83	104	63	82	79	3
	3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	61	87	86	99	—	3
	6	MBA Moscow	65	60	61	80	—	1
																							2	UNICS	76	79	82	90	98	—	—	4
																							5	Lokomotiv-Kuban	88	76	81	88	89	—	—	1
	1	CSKA Moscow	103	111	76	—	—	3
	8	Avtodor	68	85	67	—	—	0
											1	CSKA Moscow	87	83	81	79	68	98	100	3			Third place
											5	Lokomotiv-Kuban	84	84	84	73	85	75	103	4
	4	Pari Nizhny Novgorod	81	72	81	—	—	0															1	CSKA Moscow	66	85	71	77	82	—	—	4
	5	Lokomotiv-Kuban	93	77	92	—	—	3															3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	86	61	60	72	79	—	—	1

Source: VTB United League

VTB League teams in continental competitions

Team	Competition	Progress
Astana	West Asia Super League	3rd place

Awards

Award	Player	Team	Ref.
Regular Season MVP	Nikola Milutinov	CSKA Moscow
Playoffs MVP	Nenad Dimitrijević	UNICS
Scoring Champion	Malik Newman	Avtodor
Young Player of the Year	Andrey Martiuk	Lokomotiv-Kuban
Coach of the Year	Emil Rajković	CSKA Moscow
Performance of the Season	Justin Roberson	PARMA-PARI
Sixth Man of the Year	Jalen Reynolds	UNICS
Defensive Player of the Year	Evgeny Baburin	Pari Nizhny Novgorod
Newcomer of the Year	Thomas Heurtel	Zenit Saint Petersburg
First Team	Thomas Heurtel	Zenit Saint Petersburg
	Daryl Macon	UNICS
	Jaylen Barford	Lokomotiv Kuban
	Louis Labeyrie	UNICS
	Nikola Milutinov	CSKA Moscow
Second Team	Jermaine Love	Nizhny Novgorod
	Alexey Shved	CSKA Moscow
	Justin Robinson	Parma
	Livio Jean-Charles	CSKA Moscow
	James Thompson	Enisey

MVP of the Month

Month	Player	Team	Ref.
2022
October	Nikola Milutinov	CSKA Moscow
November	Thomas Heurtel	Zenit Saint Petersburg
December	Jalen Reynolds	UNICS
2023
January	Alexey Shved	CSKA Moscow
February	Malik Newman	Avtodor
March	Isaiah Reese	PARMA-PARI

External links

• Official website