Don’t expect the PBA to accommodate a guest team for Season 51.
The league is rolling with its 12 teams for the 2027 competitions, citing a busy schedule ahead, which would make it difficult to add a foreign club into the mix.
Not to mention the disappointing stint of Macau in the ongoing Season 50 that has irked many after hardly competing in the two conferences it played.
“Puno ang schedule natin,” Commissioner Willie Marcial told Tiebreaker Times.
The amiable executive said as much on Friday, shortly after the Giant Pandas received a rude sendoff at the hands of Converge, 162-108, in Antipolo.
It was their final game in the PBA as the Commissioner’s Office no longer wants to bring them back after failing to spice up Asia’s pioneering pro league. Macau accumulated a 5-19 record overall, a disappointing run considering that their predecessors gave the other teams some tough battles.
The league reopened its doors to guest squads during the 2022-23 season, with EASL in-house team Bay Area coming in.
(C) PBA Images
And the Dragons took the PBA by storm, dominantly making their way into the Commissioner’s Cup Finals before falling to Ginebra in seven games.
Hong Kong Eastern then became the next foreign team to play in the league for the 2024-25 Commissioner’s Cup, and they did compete before fizzling out.
After a promising start into the midseason tilt, the effects of playing in about three leagues took their toll on the team, eventually bowing out of the quarters.
(C) PBA Images
Macau was expected to at least become a playoff team when they first arrived in the 2025-26 Commissioner’s Cup, but turned out to be a total failure.
They only won thrice during the conference, even sacking then-head coach Garrett Kelly midway through the season. Then things got worse come the Governors’ Cup as they finished with a 2-10 record in Group A.
Macau, admittedly, was beset by manpower woes throughout its stay, to the point that it lost four important players during the recent international break.
Though the reason was valid, the PBA has deemed it best not to bring them back anymore, and just map out the Season 51 calendar with its 12 teams.
It does not mean, though, that Marcial and the Board are closing their doors on foreign clubs, planning to open things again perhaps by Season 52. In fact, the Omni Erdenet Miners of Mongolia’s The League asked about competing in the league as a guest team, but nothing was cast in stone.
The Miners were recently in Manila to play a series of tune-up games against PBA teams as part of their preparations for their domestic league.
“Wala ‘yun, nagtanong lang sila,” Marcial said. “Talks lang.”
Season 51 is set to open in March 2027 and is planned to end by December of the same year, giving the impression that the schedule could be compressed.
Marcial clarified that the next season won’t rely heavily on the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027, as the league will still pause for the global conclave.
Whether or not Gilas Pilipinas qualifies, he said.
“Pasok man o hindi, tigil tayo,” said the league chieftain.
