2025–26 King Mindaugas Cup

2025–26 Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė
Tournament details
CountryLithuania
CityŠiauliai
VenueŠiauliai Arena
Dates1 October 2025 – 10 December 2025
(Group stage)
20 December 2025 – 18 January 2026
(Quarterfinals)
21–22 February 2026
(Final four)
Teams9
Defending championsŽalgiris

The 2025–26 King Mindaugas Cup, also known as Citadele Karaliaus Mindaugo taurė for sponsorship purposes, will be eleventh edition of the Lithuanian King Mindaugas Cup. Final four will be held on 21-22 February 2026 in Šiauliai.[1]

Žalgiris are the defending champions.

Format

All 9 teams from 2025–26 LKL season will participate in this tournament. Four teams that participates in Euroleague Basketball and FIBA tournaments, have received bye's to quarterfinals stage, while the remaining teams will participate in round-robin stage, with the Top 4 teams advancing to the quarterfinals.[2]

For a place in the King Mindaugas Cup final four, clubs will play two matches each. The first matches will be played at the home arena of the club that finished lower in the previous 2024–25 LKL season. Second matches will be played at home arena of the club that finished higher in the previous LKL season.[3]

Group stage

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Qualification NEV JUV SIA JON GAR
1 Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas 8 5 3 704 703 +1 Advance to Quarterfinals 88–84 83–78 92–74 72–94
2 Juventus 8 4 4 704 676 +28 100–102 96–87 97–83 90–73
3 Šiauliai 8 4 4 699 705 −6 95–92 93–85 86–76 89–83
4 Jonava Hipocredit 8 4 4 676 702 −26 88–101 82–80 88–80 97–82
5 Gargždai 8 3 5 676 673 +3 90–74 68–72 102–91 84–88
Source: LKL.LT

Quarterfinals

Four teams Žalgiris, Rytas, Lietkabelis and Neptūnas have received byes to the Quarterfinals stage due to participating in FIBA and Euroleague Basketball competitions. Mentioned teams make up the first quarterfinals basket according to their position in 2024–25 LKL season. The second quarterfinals basket will consist of the four best teams from the group stage.

The teams in the first basket will be paired with the teams in the second basket in the following order:[2]

  • Žalgiris will play the team that finished fourth in the group stage.
  • Rytas will play the team that finished third in the group stage.
  • Lietkabelis will play the team that finished second in the group stage.
  • Neptūnas will play the team that finished first in the group stage.
Seed 1
Team Pos
Žalgiris 1
Rytas 2
Lietkabelis 3
Neptūnas 8
   

The club with better overall cumulative score after two quarterfinals matches will advance to the King Mindaugas Cup final four.[3] On 11 December 2025, the schedule of quarterfinals has been announced.[4]

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Žalgiris 207–136 Jonava Hipocredit 118–73 89–63
Rytas 196–176 Šiauliai 97–82 99–94
Lietkabelis 154–144 Juventus 73–76 81–68
Neptūnas 174–143 Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas 87–76 87–67

Žalgiris vs. Jonava Hipocredit

21 December 2025
Game 1
Jonava Hipocredit 73–118 Žalgiris Panevėžys
19:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 21–33, 10–25, 19–35, 23–25
Pts: Slavinskas, Ashton-Langford 12
Rebs: Henry 4
Asts: Ashton-Langford 6
PIR: Slavinskas 16
Boxscore Pts: Tubelis 20
Rebs: Birutis 8
Asts: Butkevičius 6
PIR: Tubelis 25
Arena: Kalnapilio Arena
Attendance: 535
Referees: Gintaras Mačiulis, Dovydas Kairys, Ignas Kutka
17 January 2026
Game 2
Žalgiris 89–63 Jonava Hipocredit Garliava
18:30 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 17–16, 26–13, 26–19, 20–15
Pts: Rubštavičius 16
Rebs: three players 7
Asts: 4
PIR: Rubštavičius 18
Boxscore Pts: Carter III 13
Rebs: Kirves 6
Asts: Ashton-Langford 5
PIR: Krikke 14
Arena: Garliava Arena
Attendance: 711
Referees: Juozas Barkauskas, Aurimas Borusas, Jonas Lazauskas

Rytas vs. Šiauliai

23 December 2025
Game 1
Šiauliai 82–97 Rytas Šiauliai
20:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 25–32, 17–27, 24–19, 16–19
Pts: Henderson 15
Rebs: Pleikys 9
Asts: McKnight 7
PIR: Pleikys 16
Boxscore Pts: Walker 25
Rebs: Gudaitis 10
Asts: Walker 10
PIR: Walker 31
Arena: Šiauliai Arena
Attendance: 3415
Referees: Juozas Barkauskas, Andžej Urbanovič, Jonas Lazauskas
15 January 2026
Game 2
Rytas 99–94 Šiauliai Vilnius
18:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 19–22, 33–22, 23–26, 24–24
Pts: Sargiūnas 18
Rebs: Gudaitis 7
Asts: Smith 7
PIR: Smith 26
Boxscore Pts: Henderson 26
Rebs: Simanić 6
Asts: McKnight 9
PIR: Fofana 26
Arena: Twinsbet Arena
Attendance: 2158
Referees: Gintaras Mačiulis, Dovydas Kairys, Tomas Stankevičius

Lietkabelis vs. Juventus

20 December 2025
Game 1
Juventus 76–73 Lietkabelis Utena
19:30 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 18–15, 23–15, 14–18, 21–25
Pts: Vraneš 20
Rebs: Uleckas 6
Asts: Valinskas 4
PIR: Vraneš 24
Boxscore Pts: Flowers 22
Rebs: Danusevičius 8
Asts: Maldūnas, Kullamäe 3
PIR: Flowers 25
Arena: Utena Arena
Attendance: 1864
Referees: Artūras Šukys, Aurimas Borusas, Darius Šomka
18 January 2026
Game 2
Lietkabelis 81–68 Juventus Panevėžys
16:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 14–9, 18–20, 22–17, 27–22
Pts: Kullamäe 24
Rebs: Maldūnas, Aimaq 6
Asts: Kullamäe 6
PIR: Kullamäe 32
Boxscore Pts: Diarra 15
Rebs: Uleckas 9
Asts: Diarra 5
PIR: Diarra 16
Arena: Kalnapilio Arena
Attendance: 1979
Referees: Gytis Vilius, Gvidas Gedvilas, Gabrielius Simonavičius

Neptūnas vs. Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas

23 December 2025
Game 1
Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas 76–87 Neptūnas Kėdainiai
18:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 15–26, 28–15, 13–23, 20–23
Pts: Miguel 17
Rebs: Marcinkevičius 8
Asts: Miguel 3
PIR: Muila 17
Boxscore Pts: Kozys, Lomažs 17
Rebs: Majauskas 8
Asts: Velička 4
PIR: Waterman 23
Arena: Kėdainiai Arena
Attendance: 918
Referees: Gytis Vilius, Gabrielius Simonavičius, Deividas Mačiulskis
17 January 2026
Game 2
Neptūnas 87–67 Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas Klaipėda
16:00 (EET) Scoring by quarter: 17–13, 21–24, 30–15, 19–15
Pts: Lomažs 19
Rebs: Kozys, Waterman 7
Asts: Velička 6
PIR: Lomažs 21
Boxscore Pts: McLaughlin 16
Rebs: Marcinkevičius 7
Asts: Vaitkus, Chargois 3
PIR: McLaughlin 13
Arena: Švyturys Arena
Attendance: 1856
Referees: Artūras Šukys, Andžej Urbanovič, Darius Šomka

Final four

Semifinals
21 February
Final
22 February
    
Žalgiris
Neptūnas
 
 
Rytas
Lietkabelis Third place
22 February
 
 

Semifinals

21 February 2026 Žalgiris vs. Neptūnas Šiauliai
15:15 (EET)
Arena: Šiauliai Arena
Referees: TBA
21 February 2026 Rytas vs. Lietkabelis Šiauliai
18:45 (EET)
Arena: Šiauliai Arena
Referees: TBA

Third place game

22 February 2026 vs. Šiauliai
TBA (EET)
Arena: Šiauliai Arena
Referees: TBA

Final

22 February 2026 vs. Šiauliai
TBA (EET)
Arena: Šiauliai Arena
Referees: TBA

Three-Point contest

Contestants[5]
Pos. Player Team Height (m) Weight (kg) First round Semifinal Final
G United States Olin Carter III Jonava Hipocredit 1.90 86
G Lithuania Nedas Montvila Nevėžis–Paskolų klubas 1.94 91
G/F Lithuania Nojus Mineikis Gargždai 2.01 90
SG Lithuania Evaldas Šaulys Juventus 1.91 87
F/C Lithuania Dovydas Romančenko Šiauliai 2.06 100
G Lithuania Nojus Kulieša Lietkabelis 1.93 88
G United States Harrison Cleary Neptūnas 1.85 82
F Lithuania Simonas Lukošius Rytas 2.02 102
SG Lithuania Mantas Rubštavičius Žalgiris 1.98 84
G Lithuania Zigmas Petraitis Tornado KM 1.86 73
G United States Jordan Walker Rytas 1.80 77

References

  1. ^ "Atskleista, kur vyks KMT finalinis ketvertas". basketnews.lt (in Lithuanian). 17 September 2025. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Paaiškėjo Citadele KMT formatas bei tvarkaraštis". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 23 September 2025. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Paaiškėjo visos Citadele KMT ketvirtfinalio poros". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 10 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Paaiškėjo Citadele KMT ketvirtfinalio tvarkaraštis". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 11 December 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Paaiškėjo Snaiperio konkurso, kurį remia "Betsson Casino", dalyviai". lkl.lt (in Lithuanian). 30 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.