East Asia Super League expands to 10 teams with Hong Kong Eastern and Macau Black Bears addition

HK Eastern and Macau Black Bears

The East Asia Super League is ready for expansion.

Two more teams are set to participate in the upcoming 2024-25 season, raising the number of participants to ten and making things more interesting in the biggest regional club basketball competition in East Asia.

Joining the eight teams who have earned their spots are Hong Kong Eastern and the Macau Black Bears, providing a Chinese presence in the competition.

The former is one of the most storied teams in the Crown Colony, and is its domestic champion, winning their third A1 Division title last year. They also have had continental experience through the ASEAN Basketball League, winning the competition in 2016-17 and 2023.

Hong Kong Eastern Team Leader Mr. Wilson Choi said, “Hong Kong has been striving hard for a professional basketball team to represent the city at the highest level. Now, Hong Kong Eastern will do that, as we take on East Asia’s best teams in the EASL 2024-25 Season. Eastern wants to be a major force in Asian basketball and to put Hong Kong on the map as a basketball powerhouse.”

The latter is the first-ever professional team from the former Portuguese colony, and is the defending Macau Basketball League champions. Like HK Eastern, they have previous continental basketball experience through both the ABL and the recently-held The Asia Tournament.

General Manager Lukas Peng says, "The Black Bears showed their strength in the ABL in recent years. We are investing so we can compete more strongly and challenge the best teams in Asia in EASL. We are proud to represent Macau and the wider Greater Bay Area in the EASL 2024-25 Season."

Eastern has been slotted into Group A, where they will play against B.LEAGUE champions the Hiroshima Dragonflies, Korean Basketball League (KBL) runners-up the Suwon KT Sonicboom, P. LEAGUE+ runners-up the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, and PBA Governors’ Cup champions the San Miguel Beermen.

The Black Bears, on the other hand, are allocated onto Group B,  in which they will play against B.LEAGUE runners-up the Ryukyu Golden Kings, KBL champions the Busan KCC Egis, P.LEAGUE+ champions the New Taipei Kings, and PBA Philippine Cup champions the Meralco Bolts.

In making this announcement, EASL CEO Henry Kerins says, "EASL is getting bigger and it’s getting better. It was always our ambition to expand and bring in more leagues, representing more regions in Asia. We have accelerated those plans due to the strong demand from the regional leagues to join, and their readiness to do so."

He adds, "The 2024-25 Season now includes two powerful teams from two amazing cities, in one of the biggest basketball markets in the world – China’s Greater Bay Area. Both teams have great ownership and ambitions to be major brands in Asian basketball. Fans are in for incredible clashes next year as Hong Kong Eastern and the Macau Black Bears take to the court against our existing line-up of amazing teams from Chinese Taipei, Japan, Korea and the Philippines."