Pau-Lacq-Orthez

Élan Béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez spend this season in Pro B after going down in 2023. It was the third relegation since 2004, following those of 2009 and 2012. For a club that won nine French titles between 1986 and 2004, the second division has become a familiar address.

The 2021–22 season was the sharpest version of that decline. The club had been sold in 2021 to Counterpointe Sports Group, and a financial crisis followed. By 2022 it faced relegation to Nationale 1 and avoided it only when French investors took over. The same season brought the fourth French Cup in the club's history, its first since 2007.

The gap between then and now is easiest to see in the years before it. Pau had won the FIBA Korać Cup in 1984 and finished third in the EuroLeague in 1986–87. The team that took the 1998 and 1999 titles included Antoine Rigaudeau, and Boris Diaw came through the same system.

The identity was assembled in stages. A patronage sports society formed in 1908, and the basketball section began in Orthez in 1931. In 1989 the club moved to Pau and merged with local bodies, becoming Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez. Lacq joined the board in 2008, which added its name to the title. Home is the Palais des Sports de Pau, and the colours are white and turquoise.

The task now is to get out of Pro B under owners based in France, with the 2022 takeover behind them and no return to the top flight yet secured.