COMMISSIONER Willie Marcial has shared that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is open to forming stronger bonds with other pro basketball leagues in Eastern Asia.
Comm Willie said the Japanese B.League has invited him to attend the All-Star Game happening on January 14 and 15 in Okinawa. The Korean Basketball League (KBL) also wants to meet and possibly explore ways to take their association higher.
The PBA, the B.League and the KBL have precious shared experience via their collective participation in the East Asia Super League (EASL)—a high-level international tournament where participating teams are the pro league champions or semifinal teams of their respective countries. Besides the Philippines, Korea and Japan, China through the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and Taiwan through the Super Basketball League (SBL) also participate in the EASL.
The tournament follows a schedule that does not conflict with the timetable of any of the regional leagues, so everybody has a grand time strutting their stuff in a neutral playground, usually Macao.
The PBA has joined the EASL—formerly known as the Super 8, then the Terrific 12—in 2018 with the NLEX Road Warriors and the Blackwater Elite representing the country. In 2019 the San Miguel Beermen, TNT Ka Tropa and Blackwater Elite joined the Terrific 12. This year, if plans push through, the EASL will play its most interesting tournament ever, with the highest performing PBA ballclub as the Philippine pro league representative.
But we digress. All we’re saying is that the PBA is not new to collaborative efforts with counterpart leagues of neighboring countries. And now that the consciousness is high for the existence of other regional leagues, it’s all good for the PBA to consider those competing leagues not as rivals but as possible partners. Maybe it will enrich the basketball experience—not just of professional basketball players, but also of the basketball crazy public—with new basketball concepts, arrangements and possibilities.
Look. It’s true that the PBA is the second oldest professional basketball league in the world next to the National Basketball Association (NBA). That probably means it’s the most experienced among all the pro leagues existing in Asia today, and possibly also the most venerable. But the PBA has also had its share of criticisms, like “boring,” “too many tournaments,” “nothing new,” “same old-same old” through the years.
To its credit, the PBA definitely tries to make things more exciting for fans and rewarding for its stakeholders. Recent conferences and PBA Finals have had that must-watch, drop-everything lure, to be honest. Thanks too to the exciting coverage of the games and their peripheral attractions.
And yet, the PBA’s hold on the future is not as secure as it used to be. No thanks to the aggressiveness and attractiveness of regional pro leagues that are scouting their horizons and looking beyond their shorelines for basketball talent to ramp up their ranks. Now, more and more young men—outstanding Pinoy cage talents who should be the next gen stars of the Philippine pro league—do not see the PBA as the only choice as their land of milk and honey.
We’ve seen the exodus of these bright young men—Thirdy Ravena, Kiefer Ravena, Gomez De Liaño brothers Juan and Javi, Dwight Ramos, Ray Ray Parks, Matthew Aquino, Kemark Carino and Kobe Paras—all to the Japanese B.League. More young talents are dreaming of their own Japanese adventure.
And why not? The action is hotter (they have less Covid restrictions), the audience is live and in full force, the excitement is real because they’re playing in a new atmosphere, the pay is higher and they are regarded as conquering heroes (they are imports, aren’t they?).
So the idea of the PBA willing to talk with its perceived rivals, exploring new possibilities and concepts is an exciting thing. It’s not at all like throwing in the towel. It is in fact taking the challenge to play the game.
Let’s face it. It’s become a borderless world. Whether we realize it or not, the pandemic and the digital revolution have shrunk our boundaries or totally erased them. The world’s a village; we are all connected. Pro leagues here and pro leagues there? They’re not outer space. They’re fair game.
The Japanese and Korean leagues are already in collaboration with each other.
They have an “Asian Player Quota” in place in the KBL that allows players from Japan to play in the Korean pro league. KBL teams can field their Japanese player full time and also include him in their domestic salary cap and team roster. KBL free agents can transfer to the B.League and non-free agents can be traded or loaned.
The system currently applies only in Korea and Japan. But Junwoo Lee, KBL General Manager thinks the concept can be applied to other countries in Asia. It will result in greater competitiveness and have economic effects as well.
PBA chairman Ricky Vargas is all for enhancing relationships with other Asian leagues. He sees it as a way to become more harmonious and a guarantee that league rights concerning player movements will be better respected and more equitable.
And even as the PBA opens up to dialogue and possible cooperation with the Korean and Japanese pro leagues, why not open the gates a little wider and look at other Asian leagues as well—the CBS and the SBL, for example, or the Indonesian Basketball League, the Lebanese Basketball League?
While we’re there, why not cook up something with the collegiate leagues, the provincial leagues. Why ever not? Anything new is an adventure. And fans are always hankering for one.