2023–24 Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) explained

The 2023–24 Úrvalsdeild karla is the 73rd season of the Úrvalsdeild karla, the top tier men's basketball league in Iceland.

Competition format

The participating teams first played a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent once home and once away for a total of 22 games. The top eight teams qualified for the championship playoffs whilst the two last qualified were relegated to 1. deild karla.^[1]

Teams

Team	City, Region	Arena	Head coach
Álftanes	Álftanes	Forsetahöllin	Kjartan Atli Kjartansson
Breiðablik	Kópavogur	Smárinn	Ívar Ásgrímsson
Grindavík	Grindavík	Mustad Höllin	Jóhann Þór Ólafsson
Hamar	Hveragerði	Frystikistan	Halldór Karl Þórsson
Haukar	Hafnarfjörður	Höllin	Máté Dalmay
Höttur	Egilsstaðir	MVA-höllin	Viðar Örn Hafsteinsson
Keflavík	Keflavík	TM Höllin	Pétur Ingvarsson
Njarðvík	Njarðvík	Ljónagryfjan	Benedikt Guðmundsson
Stjarnan	Garðabær	Ásgarður	Arnar Guðjónsson
Tindastóll	Sauðárkrókur	Síkið	Pavel Ermolinskij
Valur	Reykjavík	Origo-höllin	Finnur Freyr Stefánsson
Þór Þorlákshöfn	Þorlákshöfn	Icelandic Glacial Höllin	Lárus Jónsson

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
		End of contract	15 April 2023	Off-season	Pétur Ingvarsson[2]	1 June 2023
		End of contract	25 April 2023			25 April 2023[3]

Notable incidents

• On 5 May, Grindavík signed Daniel Mortensen.^[4]
• On 5 May, Grindavík signed American DeAndre Kane.^[5]
• On 17 May, Álftanes signed former Keflavík point guard Hörður Axel Vilhjálmsson.^[6]
• On 17 May, Grindavík signed former Njarðvík point guard Dedrick Basile.^[7]
• On 18 May, Grindavík signed former Keflavík point guard Valur Orri Valsson.^[8]
• On 18 May, it was reported that Grindavík guard Bragi Guðmundsson had signed with Penn State University.^[9]
• On 24 May, Álftanes signed Icelandic national team player Haukur Helgi Pálsson who had spent the previous two seasons with Njarðvík.^[10]
• On 12 June, David Okeke left Keflavík after two seasons and signed with Haukar.^[11]
• On 15 June, Ægir Steinarsson signed with Stjarnan after playing the previous two seasons in Spain.^[12]
• On 23 June, Álftanes signed former South Dakota State star Douglas Wilson.^[13]
• On 28 June, Haukar signed Finnish forward Osku Heinonen.^[14]
• On 12 July, Dominykas Milka signed with Njarðvík after playing the previous four seasons with their cross-town rivals Keflavík.^[15]
• On 12 July, Tindastóll signed Iceland national team player Þórir Þorbjarnarson.^[16]
• On 23 July, Haukar signed former NCAA Division I assist leader Jalen Moore.^[17]
• On 25 July, Nicolás Richotti, who had played the previous two seasons with Njarðvík, announced his retirement from basketball.^[18]
• On 15 August, Callum Lawson signed with Tindastóll.^[19]
• On 24 August, Valur signed Kristinn Pálsson.^[20]
• On 26 October, Stjarnan signed four time Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol champion James Ellisor.^[21]
• On 26 October, Breiðablik announced it had signed 36-year old Zoran Vrkić who played the previous season with Tindastóll and Grindavík.^[22]
• On 14 November, it was reported that Haukar had released Jalen Moore, who was leading the league in scoring with 27.3 points in six games.^[23]
• On 16 November, Hamar signed Jalen Moore and released Maurice Creek and Jose Medina^[24]
• In November, Grindavík's homecourt was seriously damaged in a series of earthquakes that led to the total evacuation of the town of Grindavík due to the threat of a volcanic eruption in the area.
• On 15 December, Danero Thomas announced his retirement from playing. He appeared in 11 games for Hamar during the season, where he averaged 10.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.^[25] However, in January 2024 he signed with Keflavík after being convinced by Keflavík's coach Pétur Ingvarsson to come out of retirement.^[26]
• On 18 December, Taiwo Badmus signed with Valur. He started the season with Luiss Roma but spent the previous two seasons with Tindastóll and which faced Valur in the 2022 and 2023 finals.^[27]
• On 19 December, it was reported that Damier Pitts had left Haukar after appearing in four league games where he averaged 14.8 points.^{[28] [29]}
• On 16 January, Everage Richardson left Breiðablik and signed with Haukar.^[30]

External links

• Official Icelandic Basketball Association website
• Season info on Icelandic Basketball Association

Notes and References

1. Web site: Reglugerð um körfuknattleiksmót. Icelandic Basketball Association. 24 September 2017. 20. grein Úrvalsdeild karla. is.
2. News: Sindri Sverrisson . Pétur kveður Blika og tekur við Keflavík . 1 June 2023 . . 1 June 2023 . Icelandic.
3. News: Ívar stígur inn fyrir Pétur sem tekur við kvennaliði Breiðabliks . 20 May 2023 . Karfan.is . 25 April 2023 . Icelandic . 8 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230608125953/https://www.karfan.is/2023/04/ivar-stigur-inn-fyrir-petur-sem-tekur-vid-kvennalidi-breidabliks/ . dead .
4. News: Daniel Mortensen til Grindavíkur . 20 May 2023 . Karfan.is . 5 May 2023 . 20 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230520141156/https://www.karfan.is/2023/05/daniel-mortensen-til-grndavikur/ . dead .
5. News: Sindri Sverrisson . Grindavík fær mikinn liðsstyrk: "Langt síðan svona stór prófíll hefur komið" . 20 May 2023 . . 5 May 2023 . Icelandic.
6. News: Sindri Sverrisson . Hörður Axel í Álftanes . 20 May 2023 . . 17 May 2023 . Icelandic.
7. News: Dedrick Basile til Grindavíkur . 20 May 2023 . Karfan.is . 17 May 2023.
8. News: Valur Orri til Grindavíkur . 20 May 2023 . Karfan.is . 18 May 2023 . Icelandic.
9. News: Bragi til Penn State . 20 May 2023 . Karfan.is . 18 May 2023 . Icelandic.
10. News: Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson . Haukur Helgi til Álftaness . 24 May 2023 . . 24 May 2023 . Icelandic.
11. News: Sindri Sverrisson . Okeke flytur í Ólafssal . 12 June 2023 . . 12 June 2023 . Icelandic.
12. News: Landsliðsmaðurinn aftur í Garðabæ . 20 June 2023 . . 15 June 2023 . Icelandic.
13. News: Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson . Stjarna úr bandaríska háskólaboltanum semur við Álftanes . 23 June 2023 . . 23 June 2023 . Icelandic.
14. News: Haukar sömdu við Finna . 28 June 2023 . . 28 June 2023 . Icelandic.
15. News: Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson . Milka óvænt til Njarðvíkur . 13 July 2023 . . 12 July 2023 . Icelandic.
16. News: Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson . Þórir til Stólanna . 17 July 2023 . . 17 July 2023 . Icelandic.
17. News: Andri Már Eggertsson . Haukar komnir með Bandaríkjamann . 24 July 2023 . . 23 July 2023 . Icelandic.
18. News: Lauk ferlinum í Njarðvík - nýtt starf á Kanaríeyjum . 26 July 2023 . . 25 July 2023 . Icelandic.
19. News: Frá deildar- og bikarmeisturum Vals til liðs við Íslandsmeistara Tindastóls . 15 August 2023 . Karfan.is . 15 August 2023 . Icelandic . 15 August 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230815161631/https://www.karfan.is/2023/08/fra-deildar-og-bikarmeisturum-vals-til-lids-vid-islandsmeistara-tindastols/ . dead .
20. News: Aron Guðmundsson . Kristinn Pálsson semur við Val . 24 August 2023 . . 24 August 2023 . Icelandic.
21. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Fjórfaldur portúgalskur meistari til Stjörnumanna . 26 October 2023 . . 26 October 2023 . Icelandic.
22. News: Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson . Vrkić í Grindavík . 27 January 2023 . . 27 January 2023 . Icelandic.
23. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Haukar reka stigahæsta leikmann deildarinnar . 14 November 2023 . . 14 November 2023 . Icelandic.
24. News: Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson . Hamarsmenn semja við Jalen Moore og reka tvo leikmenn . 16 November 2023 . . 16 November 2023 . Icelandic.
25. News: Gunnar Egill Daníelsson . Leggur skóna á hilluna . 16 December 2023 . . 15 December 2023 . Icelandic.
26. News: Danero sagði það ekki skrýtið að hafa mætt sínum gömlu félögum í kvöld "Hef verið að þessu lengi" . 9 January 2024 . Karfan.is . 4 January 2024 . Icelandic.
27. News: Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson . Badmus í Val . 18 December 2023 . . 18 December 2023 . Icelandic.
28. News: Hjörtur Leó Guðjónsson . Yfirgefur Hauka eftir aðeins þrjá leiki . 20 December 2023 . . 19 December 2023 . Icelandic.
29. Web site: Damier Pitts, Basketball Player, News, Stats - Eurobasket . . 20 December 2023.
30. News: Everage Richardson til Hauka . 16 January 2024 . Karfan.is . 16 January 2024 . Icelandic.