ASEAN Basketball League

ASEAN Basketball League

Organising body	Tune Group
Founded	1 October 2009;14 years ago (2009-10-01)
First season	2009–10
Country	Philippines (1 team)   Hong Kong (1 team)   Indonesia (1 team)   Macau (1 team)   Malaysia (1 team)   Singapore (1 team)   Thailand (1 team)   Vietnam (1 team)
Confederation	FIBA Asia
Divisions	1
Number of teams	8
Current champions	Hong Kong Eastern (2nd title) (2023 ABL season)
Most championships	Hi-Tech Bangkok City, Hong Kong Eastern (2 titles)
TV partners	Cable TV Singtel FPT ABL (YouTube)
2023 ABL season

The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is an international professional men's basketball league in the Far East Asia, composed of eight teams including six clubs from Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), in addition to Hong Kong and Macau. Former teams have included Taiwan and Brunei. The league was proposed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and launched its inaugural season on 1 October 2009.

History

Formation

Basketball officials from 6 ASEAN nations gathered in Metro Manila on 1 September 2009 to officially launch the new league. In its inaugural season, there were six participating teams from different nations in Southeast Asia:

Team	City	Region
Brunei Barracudas	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei
Kuala Lumpur Dragons	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia
Philippine Patriots	San Juan	Philippines
Satria Muda BritAma	Jakarta	Indonesia
Singapore Slingers	Kallang	Singapore
Thailand Tigers	Bangkok	Thailand

League expansion

On 22 September 2011, the Brunei Barracudas announced that they were bowing out of the third season of ABL after participating for 2 seasons. ^[1] On 20 October 2011, the Saigon Sports Academy officially announced the participation of Saigon Heat into the third season of ABL, making them the first ever international professional basketball team to represent Vietnam. ^[2] In the same season, San Miguel Beermen and Bangkok Cobras joined the league along with Saigon Heat. Unfortunately, the Beermen left the ABL after winning the title in 2013. The Cobras also left the league after one season. ^[3] Further, in 2014, Laskar Dreya South Sumatra (INA) joined and played for a season.

In 2015, Pilipinas MX3 Kings and Mono Vampire joined the league and both teams left in 2016. On 17 July 2016, Kaohsiung Truth from Kaohsiung, Taiwan announced that they will participate in the 2016–17 season. ^[4] In the same year, the Eastern Basketball Club confirmed its participation in the league. ^[5] The two teams were the first teams from outside Southeast Asia to compete in the league. The Philippines returned in the league with Alab Pilipinas on 6 August 2016. ^[6] In September 2017, ABL confirmed four new teams for the 2017–18 season: CLS Knights Indonesia, Formosa Dreamers, the returning Mono Vampire Basketball Club, ^[7] and the Nanhai Kung Fu after the Kaoshiung Truth disbanded after the seventh season of ABL.

After the 2018 season, the Kung Fu moved to Macau and became the Macau Black Bears, ^[8] while the league announced the addition of the Zhuhai Wolf Warriors, based in Zhuhai in the Pearl River delta. ^[9] On 9 September 2019, the league confirmed the entry of the third team from Taiwan, Taipei Fubon Braves situated in Taipei after Formosa Dreamers and disbanded Kaohsiung Truth. ^[10] Fubon Braves secured the best record in the Super Basketball League and capped it off with the SBL championship after sweeping the Finals series in four games. They are also one of the eight teams to compete in the 2019 FIBA Asia Champions Cup.

COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty

The 2019-20 ABL season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 placing the status of the ABL in uncertainty. The withdrawal of Mono Vampires, the reports of Taiwanese teams planning to join a domestic league, and the inactivity of the league's social media site were among the factors that fueled speculations that the ABL itself would fold. However, an ABL co-owner dispelled such rumors committing the resumption of the league stating that they plan to hold the eleventh season in 2021. ^[11] Plans to resume the league were postponed again with the new starting date for the season initially being in February 2022. ^[12] The start date was pushed back again a month later to September. ^[13] The plan did not proceed as planned. In October, the ABL through social media announced that it is returning without providing anymore details. ^[14]

An iinvitational tournament was held in 2023 and won by Hong Kong Eastern, but on November 20, 2023, the league's uncertainty continued as FIBA had dropped support for the ABL and that the league is "unlikely to play for the foreseeable future" in a statement made by the Singapore Slingers. ^{[15] [16]}

Teams

Current teams

Team	City / Region	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined ABL	Head coach
Bangkok Tigers	Bangkok	Nimibutr Stadium	5,600	2018	2023	Jakkraphan Chupthaisong
Hong Kong Eastern	Wan Chai	Southorn Stadium	2,000	1932	2016	Željko Pavličević
Louvre Surabaya	Surabaya	Hi-Test Arena	1,200	2019	2023	Jomar Tierra
Macau Black Bears	Macau	The Venetian Macao, Hall D	TBC	2017		Charles Dubé-Brais
NS Matrix Deers	Negeri Sembilan	MABA Stadium	2,500	2015	2023	Jeff Viernes
Saigon Heat	Ho Chi Minh City	CIS Arena	2,500	2011	2012	Matthew Van Pelt
Singapore Slingers	Kallang	OCBC Arena	3,000	2006	2009	Neo Beng Siang
Zamboanga Valientes	Zamboanga City	Zamboanga City Coliseum	15,000	2006	2023	Expedito De Los Santos

Slingers

Heat

Eastern

Black Bears

Matrix

Tigers

Louvre

Valientes

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Locations of ABL teams.

Former teams

Nation	Team(s)	Year(s)
		From	To
Brunei	Brunei Barracudas	2009	2011
Indonesia	CLS Knights Indonesia	2017	2019
	Indonesia Warriors	2012	2014
	Laskar Dreya South Sumatra	2014
	Satria Muda	2009	2011
Macau	Macau Wolf Warriors	2018	2020
Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur Dragons	2009	2020
Philippines	AirAsia Philippine Patriots	2009	2012
	Pilipinas MX3 Kings	2015	2016
	San Miguel Alab Pilipinas	2016	2020
	San Miguel Beermen	2012	2013
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)	Formosa Dreamers	2017	2020
	Kaohsiung Truth	2016	2017
	Taipei Fubon Braves	2019	2020
Thailand	Bangkok Cobras	2012
	Hi-Tech Bangkok City	2009	2016
	Mono Vampire	2015	2020

Cobras, Hi-Tech, Vampire

Alab, Beermen, Kings, Patriots

Kings

Barracudas

Knights

Laskar Dreya (alt)

Laskar Dreya

Warriors

Truth

Dreamers

Braves

Dragons

Wolf Warriors

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Locations of former ABL teams.

Champions

The finals is a best-of-5 (2–2–1) series (2010, 2013, 2016–2019) and is a best-of-3 (1–1–1) series (2011, 2012, 2014, 2023)

Season	Finalists			Semi-finalists
	Champions	Result	Runners-up
2009–10	Philippine Patriots^	3–0	Satria Muda	Kuala Lumpur Dragons	Singapore Slingers
2010–11	Chang Thailand Slammers^	2–0	Philippine Patriots	Singapore Slingers	Westports KL Dragons
2012	Indonesia Warriors	2–1	San Miguel Beermen^	Philippine Patriots	Westports Malaysia Dragons
2013	San Miguel Beermen^	3–0	Indonesia Warriors	Thailand Slammers	Westports Malaysia Dragons
2014	Hi-Tech Bangkok City	2–0	Westports Malaysia Dragons^	Saigon Heat	Singapore Slingers
2015–16	Westports Malaysia Dragons^	3–2	Singapore Slingers	Hi-Tech Bangkok City	Saigon Heat
2016–17	Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions^	3–1	Singapore Slingers	Alab Pilipinas	Saigon Heat
2017–18	San Miguel Alab Pilipinas	3–2	Mono Vampire	Chong Son Kung Fu^	Hong Kong Eastern
2018–19	CLS Knights Indonesia	3–2	Singapore Slingers	Hong Kong Eastern	Mono Vampire
2019–20	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia.
2020–21	Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia.
2021–22
2023	Hong Kong Eastern	2–1	Saigon Heat^	NS Matrix Deers	Singapore Slingers

• ^ finished regular season with the best win–loss record.

Championship table by club

This medal ranking is based on the club/team representation.

Team	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Hi-Tech Bangkok City	2	0	2	4
Hong Kong Eastern	2	0	2	4
Kuala Lumpur Dragons	1	1	4	6
AirAsia Philippine Patriots	1	1	1	3
Indonesia Warriors	1	1	0	2
San Miguel Beermen	1	1	0	2
Alab Pilipinas	1	0	1	2
CLS Knights Indonesia	1	0	0	1
Singapore Slingers	0	3	4	7
Saigon Heat	0	1	3	4
Mono Vampire	0	1	1	2
Satria Muda BritAma	0	1	0	1
Macau Black Bears	0	0	1	1
NS Matrix Deers	0	0	1	1
Total	10	10	20	40

• Bold: teams that are still active
• Italic: teams from outside Southeast Asia

Individual awards

ABL presents five individual awards to players: the Local MVP, World Import MVP, ASEAN Heritage MVP, and the Defensive Player of the Year. The Coach of the Year award is given to the league's best head coach of the season.

Prior to the 2015–16 ABL season, there was only one MVP award for imports and was called the Best Import award. It was divided into two for World Imports (for players hailing from outside Southeast Asia and to the ASEAN Heritage Imports (for players from other Southeast Asian countries or players with at least one Southeast Asian parent). Also, the Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards were only awarded since the 2012 season.

Most Valuable Players

Locals Season Player Nationality Team 2009–10 Attaporn Lertmalaiporn [17]   Thailand Thailand Tigers 2010–11 Mario Wuysang [18]   Indonesia Satria Muda 2012 Leo Avenido [19]   Philippines San Miguel Beermen 2013 Asi Taulava [20]   Philippines San Miguel Beermen 2014 Wei Long Wong [21]   Singapore Singapore Slingers 2015–16 Wei Long Wong [22]   Singapore Singapore Slingers 2016–17 Bobby Ray Parks Jr. [23]   Philippines Alab Pilipinas 2017–18 Bobby Ray Parks Jr. [24]   Philippines Alab Pilipinas 2018–19 Bobby Ray Parks Jr.   Philippines Alab Pilipinas

World Imports Season Player Nationality Team 2009–10 Jason Dixon [17]   United States Philippine Patriots 2010–11 Nakiea Miller [18]   United States Westports KL Dragons 2012 Anthony Johnson [25]   United States AirAsia Philippine Patriots 2013 Christien Charles   United States Sports Rev Thailand Slammers 2014 Christien Charles [26]   United States Hi-Tech Bangkok City 2015–16 Reggie Johnson   United States Westports Malaysia Dragons 2016–17 Marcus Elliott   United States Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions 2017–18 Anthony Tucker   United States Chong Son Kung Fu 2018–19 Xavier Alexander   United States Singapore Slingers

Heritage Imports Season Player Nationality Team 2015–16 Matthew Wright   Philippines Westports Malaysia Dragons 2016–17 Tyler Lamb   Thailand Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions 2017–18 Mikh McKinney   Philippines Chong Son Kung Fu

Finals Season Player Nationality Team 2009–10 Warren Ybañez   Philippines Philippine Patriots 2010–11 Attaporn Lertmalaiporn   Thailand Chang Thailand Slammers 2012 Evan Brock   United States Indonesia Warriors 2013 Chris Banchero   Philippines San Miguel Beermen 2014 Jerick Cañada   Philippines Hi-Tech Bangkok City 2015–16 Jason Brickman   Philippines Westports Malaysia Dragons 2016–17 Marcus Elliott   United States Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions 2017–18 Bobby Ray Parks Jr.   Philippines San Miguel Alab Pilipinas 2018–19 Maxie Esho   United States CLS Knights Indonesia 2023 Tonny Trocha-Morelos   Colombia Hong Kong Eastern

Special Awards

Defensive Player of the Year Season Player Nationality Team 2012 Steven Thomas   United States Indonesia Warriors 2013 Chris Charles   United States Sports Rev Thailand Slammers 2014 Justin Williams   United States Saigon Heat 2015–16 Chris Charles   United States Hi-Tech Bangkok City 2016–17 Justin Howard   United States Singapore Slingers 2017–18 Renaldo Balkman   Puerto Rico San Miguel Alab Pilipinas Chris Charles   United States Singapore Slingers 2018–19 John Fields   United States Singapore Slingers 2023 Chris McLaughlin   Canada Hong Kong Eastern

Coach of the Year Season Coach Nationality Team 2012 Todd Purves   United States Indonesia Warriors 2013 Leo Austria   Philippines San Miguel Beermen 2014 Ariel Vanguardia   Philippines Westports Malaysia Dragons 2015–16 Neo Beng Siang   Singapore Singapore Slingers 2016–17 Edu Torres   Spain Hong Kong Eastern Long Lions 2017–18 Charles Dubé-Brais   Canada Chong Son Kung Fu 2018–19 Dean Murray   United States Formosa Dreamers 2023 Željko Pavličević   Croatia Hong Kong Eastern

See also

• ABL 3x3 International Champions Cup
• East Asia Super League
• West Asia Super League
• FIBA Asia Champions Cup
• AsiaBasket

References

1. "Brunei Barracudas Bow Out of ABL Season 3". ABL. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
2. "Saigon Heat enter ABL 2016–17 season". vietnamnews.vn. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
3. "Major setback for ABL as champions San Miguel Beermen on the way out". Spin.ph. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
4. Taiwan's Kaohsiung Truth Joins ABL as League Expands
5. "Hong Kong Eastern Confirms Participation In ABL". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
6. "New Philippine Team Set to Join ABL". ABL. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
7. Lee, David (25 September 2017). "Nine teams for new ABL season". New Straits Times. TNP. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
8. "Chong Son Kung Fu Relocates and Rebrands to Macau Black Bears | ABL". ABL. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 12 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
9. "ASEAN Basketball League adds historic 10th team with the Zhuhai Wolf Warriors | ABL". ABL. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
10. "The Fubon Braves To Join ABL's Tenth Season". ABL. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
11. "Singapore Slingers co-owner Wee Siew Kim says ABL 'is here to stay'". The Straits Times. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
12. Panerio, Jonas (20 January 2022). "Davao Occidental Tigers' cagers to play in ASEAN Basketball League". Sunstar. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
13. Lee, David (24 March 2022). "Basketball: ABL to return with Bali 3x3 event in April, 5v5 season set to restart later". The Straits Times. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
14. "ASEAN Basketball League announces return". ABS-CBN News. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
15. "Singapore Slingers 'stop playing' amid uncertainty around ASEAN Basketball League's future". CNA. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
16. "CLUB STATEMENT". Singapore Slingers. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
17. Tan, Les (20 July 2010). "Attaporn MVP win highlight of losing ABL season for Thailand Tigers". Red Sports. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
18. "Mario Wuysang MVP Sesi Reguler ABL" [Mario Wuysang is ABL Regular Season MVP]. Republika . 5 March 2011.
19. Belen, Reynaldo (28 June 2012). "Beermen's Avenido is ABL Local MVP". InterAksyon. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
20. "San Miguel's Taulava named ABL MVP". ABS-CBNnews.com . 5 June 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
21. "Slingers' Wong Wei Long Wins 2014 ABL Local MVP". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
22. "Basketball: Slingers' Wong Wei Long named ABL Local MVP". Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
23. "Long Lions Take Home Three Awards, Parks Named ABL Local MVP". Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
24. "Tucker, McKinney, Parks, headline ABL awardees | ABL". Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
25. "AirAsia Philippine Patriots' Anthony Johnson Scoops Up ABL's Best Import Award 2012". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
26. "Bangkok City's Chris Charles Wins Second Consecutive ABL Import MVP Award". Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.