The 2001 South American Basketball Championship , the thirty-ninth South American Basketball Championship , took place between July 20 and 29, 2001 in Valdivia , Chile , which hosted the championship for the sixth time. The winner was the national team of Argentina , which could win the title for the tenth time.
In the preliminary round, ten teams played in two groups of five teams each. Each team played against the other teams once, so that each team played four games (a total of twenty games took place). There were two points for each win and one point for a defeat. The four best teams in each group advanced to the next round.