East Asia Super League scraps inaugural season but will host ‘Champions Week’ tournament in Japan
- Shortened five-day tournament will pit the league’s eight teams against each other in March
- Season 2 set to kick off later in 2023, after issues owing to the pandemic put paid to Season 1
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The inaugural East Asia Super League (EASL) season has been scrapped because of issues owing to the pandemic, but a shortened format is set to replace it in March.
Hong Kong basketball stars Duncan Reid and Glen Yang are set to represent the Bay Area Dragons at the five-day “Champions Week” tournament, which will boast a total prize money fund of US$400,000, and be played in Tochigi and Okinawa, Japan.
EASL chief Matt Beyer told the Post a home-and-away Season 2 will kick off in Autumn 2023, featuring champions and runners-up from Japan’s B. League, Korean Basketball League and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), as well as the Dragons and the champions from Taiwan’s P. League, with both teams representing Greater China.
The league also intends to expand to 16 teams for its third season in 2024-25, with the number of games extending to 52, from 24 in Season 2.
“Champions Week in Japan will be unlike anything ever seen before,” Beyer said. “It provides fans with electrifying game action and a platform for the top leagues and professional teams in the region to gain global exposure.”
The league’s eight teams will each play two group games, with the top two teams from each group to advance to play in a Championship and third-place game over March 1-4.
The Utsunomiya Brex will host the first three group stage game days at the Brex Arena Utsunomiya in Tochigi, while the Ryukyu Golden Kings will host the final day of the groups, as well as the two knockout games, at the Okinawa Arena – which is also a 2023 Fiba World Cup venue.
“It is exciting the league is happening – I believe it is going to be challenging because we are going to face the top league teams from around the region,” Reid said.
While the Champions Week is still months away, the Dragons have kept themselves busy. Competing as a PBA guest team in the Commissioner’s Cup, they topped the league with a 10-2 regular season record, before breezing past Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in a 30-point blowout to reach the semi-finals of the playoffs.
The league’s No 1 team are leading the San Miguel Beermen 1-0 in a best-of-five series. Games 2 and 3 are set for Friday and Sunday this week. Yang, who averaged 38 minutes as the starting point guard, is expected to start as usual.
“It has been an eventful season to say the least,” Yang, who averaged 11.5 points, 6 rebounds and 5.5 assists this season, said.
“We had to deal with a lot of change as a group having to switch our import multiple times from Myles Powell to Andrew Nicholson. Also, having to deal with the PBA play style and physicality was an adjustment for a lot of us. It has been a really fun year with a lot of learning on the fly.”
Despite seeing his minutes affected by the presence of former Canada international Powell, Reid said he is “learning a lot” from the ex-NBA star, who previously played for the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets, before heading to China and South Korea from 2017.
“Powell is about the same height as me, but he is so skilful offensively, his low-post moves are amazing in particular,” 33-year-old Hong Kong centre Yang added.
