KK Mega Basket

History

The Avala Ada era (1998–2005)

KK Avala Ada (Serbian Cyrillic: КК Авала Ада) was established on 23 December 1998 by a group of basketball enthusiasts, all employed at the Avala Ada packaging factory located in the Viline Vode neighbourhood on the outskirts of Belgrade. Finally implemented in late 1998, the idea of launching a full-fledged basketball club within the state-owned factory's legal framework had been considered since summer 1995, initially on the heels of yet another participation of Avala Ada employees in basketball competitions at the Workers' Sporting Games (Radničke sportske igre; state-funded excursionary social, leisure, and team building gatherings featuring semi-formal sporting competitions for employees within various industries). Even prior to 1995, Avala Ada employees had regularly participated at the Workers' Sporting Games, continually placing high against basketball select squads of other factories/companies within the packaging industry in FR Yugoslavia and also earlier in pre-1992 SFR Yugoslavia. Though the idea of launching a more formal and permanent basketball program within the factory had been bandied around since 1995, the immediate catalyst for its late 1998 formation turned out to be the factory basketball team's notable showing at the 1998 Workers' Sporting Games in Divčibare several months earlier during summer 1998. Furthermore, having already secured a steady revenue and regular customer base allowed the company to financially support such a venture outside of its core business activity. Within months, Košarkaški klub Avala Ada (Avala Ada Basketball Club) was established as a legal entity within the Avala Ada sports society that was formed simultaneously.

With KK Avala Ada's management—club president Veljko Grujić and sporting director Velimir Mihailović—appointed from the factory employee ranks, coaching hires were made from outside the factory: young head coach Miodrag "Miša" Perišić and his assistant Rade Orlović. Players on the roster were also a mix of factory's employees and outside acquisitions: the team's first captain was the factory's commercial director Bratislav Gajić.

The newly-established club started out in the lowest rank of the FR Yugoslavia basketball system: Belgrade Municipal League, the so-called "Concrete League" (Beton liga), fifth tier of competition in the country. In the early summer of 1999, the club won the Belgrade Municipal League (played outdoors only during summer), thus qualifying for the Serbian Second League (4th-tier competition on the FR Yugoslavia basketball pyramid). Playing the 1999–2000 season in the fourth-tier Serbian Second League, the Perišić-coached club set an ambitious goal of gaining promotion on its first try and succeeded.

The Mega Basket era (2005–present)

Based on their performance in the 2004–05 season, Avala Ada managed to gain promotion to the Serbia-Montenegro top-tier league. During the 2005–06 campaign, playing its first top flight season, the club changed its name to KK Mega Basket on 19 December 2005. At the same time, it signed a sponsorship deal with the Smederevo-based Ishrana food company, leading to the club competing as Mega Ishrana until 2007. The team got relegated at the end of the 2005–06 season, however, the May 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum that meant that Montenegro would become a fully independent state also resulted in the basketball league being re-organized and Mega Ishrana remaining in Serbia's top-tier basketball league.

Later, also via a naming-rights sponsorship deal, the club was called Mega Aqua Monta for the 2007–08 season, and Mega Hypo Leasing in the 2008–09 season.

In August 2009, before the start of the 2009–10 season, another Belgrade-based club KK Vizura merged into KK Mega Hypo Leasing, and the club was renamed KK Mega Vizura. In November 2014, the club changed its name to Mega Leks due to sponsorship reasons. In 2016, Mega Leks won its first trophy ever when it beat KK Partizan 86–80 in the Serbian Cup Final. In 2017, the club changed its name to Mega Bemax due to sponsorship reasons.

On June 14, 2018, the club signed a contract on sports and technical cooperation with OKK Beograd. Later that summer, on August 11, 2018, the club played a pre-season preparation game under NCAA basketball rules against the most recent NCAA tournament Southern Regional semifinalist University of Kentucky men's basketball team at the Imperial Arena on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, losing heavily 100–64. Some ten days later, on August 23, 2018, Mega played the University of Michigan men's basketball team, recent NCAA tournament runner-up, this time under FIBA rules, in Sant Julià de Vilatorta, Spain and winning 81–73.

As an organization focused primarily on showcasing its roster and providing a springboard platform for player transfers to bigger clubs in Europe and the NBA, in summer 2019, Mega continued the pre-season practice of travelling to the Bahamas to face off against top U.S. collegiate teams in preparatory games. This time, it was two games against the Texas Tech University basketball team, most recently the NCAA tournament runner-up; Texas Tech won the first contest 94–92 on August 16, 2019 at Imperial Arena on Paradise Island while Mega won 73–76 four days later at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

Sponsorship naming

The club has had several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship:

Mega Ishrana (2005–2007)

Mega Aqua Monta (2007–2008)

Mega Hypo Leasing (2008–2009)

Mega Vizura (2009–2014)

Mega Leks (2014–2017)

Mega Bemax (2017–2020)

Mega Soccerbet (2020–2021)

Mega Mozzart (2021–2022)

Mega MIS (2022–2025)

Mega Superbet (2025–present)

Home arenas

Mega Basket plays their ABA League domestic home games at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, located in the Belgrade municipality of New Belgrade. The arena, then named New Belgrade Sports Hall, was built in 1968. It has a seating capacity of 5,000. Mega Basket plays their BLS home matches at the Mega Factory Hall.

The club has had several home arenas through the years in four cities:

Šumice Hall, Belgrade (2008–2009)

Vizura Sports Center, Belgrade (2009–2012)

Kruševac Hall, Kruševac (2012–2013)

Smederevo Hall, Smederevo (2013–2014)

Pinki Hall, Sremska Mitrovica (2014–2019)

Mega Factory Hall, Belgrade (2017–present)

Ranko Žeravica Hall, Belgrade (2014–2015, 2019–present)

Players

Coaches

Avala Ada

Miodrag Perišić (1999–2001)

Miodrag Perišić (2002–2004)

Boško Đokić (2005)

Miodrag Kadija (2005)

Oliver Popović (2005)

Mega Basket

Vlade Đurović (2005–2006)

Oliver Popović (2006–2007)

Mihailo Uvalin (2007)

Dragiša Šarić (2007)

Aleksandar Kesar (2007–2008)

Mihailo Uvalin (2008–2009)

Miodrag Rajković (2009–2010)

Vlada Vukoičić (2010–2012)

Dejan Milojević (2012–2020)

Vlada Jovanović (2020–2022)

Marko Barać (2022–present)

Trophies and awards

Trophies

Serbian League

Runners-up (1): 2020–21

Serbian Cup

Winners (1): 2016

Runners-up (4): 2014, 2015, 2021, 2023

Adriatic League

Runners-up (1): 2015–16

Balkan League

3rd place (1): 2008–09

Management and staff

Current officeholders are:

President: Vladimir Mihailović

General manager: Goran Ćakić

Team manager: Novica Veličković

Current head coaches are:

Senior team: Marko Barać

U18 and U19 teams: Milan Vidosavljević

U16 team: Dejan Pejić