JL Bourg Basket

Jeunesse Laïque de Bourg-en-Bresse, commonly known as JL Bourg or simply Bourg, is a basketball club based in Bourg-en-Bresse, France that plays in the LNB Élite, the national top division.^[1] Their home arena is Ekinox, which has a capacity of 3,548 people.

JL Bourg
Nickname	La Jeu La JL
Leagues	LNB Élite
Founded	1910; 115 years ago (1910)
Arena	Ekinox
Capacity	3,548
Location	Bourg-en-Bresse, France
President	Julien Desbottes
Head coach	Frederic Fauthoux
Website	jlbourg-basket.com
Home Away

Bourg has also represented France in European competition, including the second level EuroCup.

History

The club was officially founded in 1910 by Henri Mamet, who also became the first president of JL Bourg.^[2] In 1956, the team won its first title when it won the Ain regional championship.

The team joined professional competition in 1996 when it entered the LNB Pro B, the national second division.^[3]

In 2014, JL Bourg adopted its new home arena Ekinox which replaced the Salle des Sports.^[4] This year the team also promoted to the Pro A after it won the Pro B Playoffs. They relegated back after the 2014–15 season.

In the 2019–20 season, Bourg was in the 5th place until the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2020–21 season, Bourg will make its European debut when it will play in the EuroCup.^[5]

During the 2023–24 season, Bourg had the first pick of the 2024 NBA draft Zaccharie Risacher on its roster.^[6] In the EuroCup, Bourg had its most successful European season in club history after reaching the finals following a 2–1 semifinal win over Beşiktaş.^[7]

Honours

JL Bourg playing a home game at the Ekinox

Domestic competitions

• LNB Pro A Leaders Cup

Runners-up (3): 2006, 2019, 2023

• Pro B

Champions: 2016–17

• Pro B Leaders Cup

Champions: 2016

European competitions

• EuroCup

Runners-up (1): 2024

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Record	French Cup	Other competitions		European competitions
2011–12	2	Pro B	9th
2012–13	2	Pro B	8th
2013–14	2	Pro B	2nd
2014–15	1	Pro A	18th
2015–16	2	Pro B	5th			Pro B Leaders Cup	C
2016–17	2	Pro B	1st			Pro B Leaders Cup	SF
2017–18	1	Pro A	9th	17–17	Eightfinalist
2018–19	1	Pro A	9th	19–15	Round of 32
2019–20[a]	1	Pro A	5th	16–9	Eightfinalist
2020–21	1	Pro A	5th	22–12				2 EuroCup	R16
2021–22	1	Pro A	11th	15–19	Quarterfinalist			2 EuroCup	RS
2022–23	1	Pro A	4th	19–15	Quarterfinalist	Pro A Leaders Cup	RU	2 EuroCup	EF
2023–24	1	Pro A	4th	25–9	Eightfinalist	Pro A Leaders Cup	SF	2 EuroCup	RU

1. The 2019–20 season was cancelled prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bourg played only 25 games and had a 16–9 record.

Players

Main category: JL Bourg Basket players

Jérome Sanchez wearing the Bourg jersey in 2014

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

JL Bourg roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SF 3 Salash, Maksim 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 28 – (1996-05-06)6 May 1996 F 4 Nelson, Adrian 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 25 – (1999-10-05)5 October 1999 PG 5 Benitez, Hugo 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 24 – (2001-01-20)20 January 2001 SF 7 Courby, Maxime 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 34 – (1990-11-23)23 November 1990 SF 8 Usher, Jordan 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 27 – (1998-02-21)21 February 1998 SG 11 Ayayi, Joël 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 24 – (2000-03-05)5 March 2000 PG 13 Castañeda, Xavier 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 24 – (2000-03-26)26 March 2000 F/C 27 Pansa, Jean-Marc 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 27 – (1997-08-20)20 August 1997 G 30 Jefferson, Brandon 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 33 – (1991-11-25)25 November 1991 SG 33 Paul, Brandon 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 33 – (1991-04-30)30 April 1991 F/C 34 Kokila, Kevin 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 23 – (2001-09-03)3 September 2001	Head coach Frederic Fauthoux Assistant coach(es) Gérald Simon Frédéric Wiscart-Goetz Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: January 24, 2025

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Kevin Kokila	Jean-Marc Pansa
PF	Adrian Nelson	Maxime Courby
SF	Jordan Usher	Maksim Salash
SG	Brandon Paul	Joël Ayayi
PG	Xavier Castañeda	Hugo Benitez	Mehdy Ngouama

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Antoine Gomis
• Marc-Antoine Pellin
• Zaccharie Risacher
• Jérôme Sanchez
• Arthur Rozenfeld
• Tomáš Kyzlink
• Mathieu Wojciechowski
• Youssou Ndoye
• Kadeem Allen
• Devin Booker
• Rob Gray
• Chris Johnson
• Jalen Jones
• Trey Lewis
• Garrett Sim
• Chase Simon
• Steven Smith
• Jordan Theodore
• LaMonte Ulmer
• Frantz Massenat

Individual awards

• Pro A Most Valuable Player
  • Zachery Peacock – 2018

References

1. LNB Profile
2. "Journal officiel de la République française No. 117 du 30 avril 1915". Tables du Journal officiel de la République française 1915. Paris: Imprimerie des Journaux Officiels. 15 October 1930. p. 2756. ISSN 0373-0425. 9 avril 1914. Jeunesse Laïque de Bourg (Ain). Objet : Education laïque et sociale des jeunes gens. Siège social : Places du Quinconce et de Champ-de-Mars, à Bourg (Ain) .
3. "Entraîneurs de la JL Bourg". anciens.jlbourg-basket.com (in French). Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
4. "First Basket 3D video mapping show à la JL Bourg Basket (Pro B), une première dans le basket européen !". sportbuzzbusiness.fr (in French). 9 May 2014.
5. "EuroCup Board meets to plan the 2020-21 season". Euroleague Basketball. 15 June 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
6. "Next Big Thing: Why is Zaccharie Risacher projected as the #1 pick in the NBA draft?". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
7. "JL Bourg defeat Besiktas in tense game, rise to EuroCup final vs. Paris". basketnews.com. Retrieved 4 April 2024.

External links

• Official website