The top basketball teams in Macao and Hong Kong are set to make their debut in the East Asia Super League (EASL), the professional basketball championship organiser announced yesterday.
With the addition of Macao’s Black Bears and Hong Kong’s Eastern, the number of teams participating in the upcoming season will grow from eight to ten. Currently, the league features teams from clubs based in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan.
The CEO of EASL, Henry Keirns, described the Macao and Hong Kong teams as “powerful,” adding that they originate “from two amazing cities, in one of the biggest basketball markets in the world – China’s Greater Bay Area.”
Lukas Peng, the general manager of the Black Bears, highlighted the fact that the city’s inaugural professional basketball team had represented the SAR across a number of regional competitions, including the ASEAN Basketball League and The Asia Tournament.
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According to EASL’s announcement, the Black Bears are in Group B of the 2024 to 2025 season’s group stage, meaning that they will face off teams that include Ryukyu Golden King, the Busan KCC Egis, the New Taipei Kings and San Miguel Beermen.
The Hong Kong Eastern, meanwhile, will play in Group A against the Hiroshima Dragonflies, Suwon KT Sonicboom, the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots and the Meralco Bolts.
Other specific details about the upcoming season have yet to be released, although EASL stated that the game schedule would be published within the next couple of weeks.
Founded in 2018, the Black Bears team is the successor of Guangdong-based basketball team Chong Son Kung Fu. The Black Bears’ name makes reference to an iconic local black bear named Bobo that lived in Flora Garden for more than three decades before passing away in 2018.
