Mexico - LNBP

Foundation

In January 2000, some teams of CIMEBA (Circuito Mexicano de Básquetbol), the national basketball league in Mexico at the time, exited the league, citing CIMEBA's financial difficulties, and decided to form a new league. On March 11, 2000 the league was founded in the city of Durango with 11 teams participating. These were the founding teams, with the respective city and state:

• Algodoneros de la Comarca (Torreón, Coahuila)
• Correcaminos Matamoros de la UAT (Matamoros, Tamaulipas)
• Correcaminos Reynosa de la UAT (Reynosa, Tamaulipas)
• Correcaminos Tampico de la UAT (Tampico, Tamaulipas)
• Correcaminos Victoria de la UAT (Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas)
• Dorados de Chiuhuahua (Chihuahua, Chihuahua)
• Garzas de Plata de la UAEH (Pachuca, Hidalgo)
• Indios de la UACJ (Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua)
• La Ola Roja del Distrito Federal (Mexico City, Distrito Federal)
• Osos de Saltillo (Saltillo, Coahuila)
• Vaqueros de Agua Prieta (Agua Prieta, Sonora)

The first president was Modesto Robledo. The LNBP set out to support and develop professional basketball in Mexico. The first edition of the league started on August 7, 2000 and finished in December, with the regular season finishing on November 11 and the playoffs starting on November 14. The first game was played in Torreón between Algodoneros de Torreón and Dorados de Chihuahua at the Auditorio Municipal: Dorados won, 80–78. The league coexisted in its first seasons with CIMEBA.