ANTIPOLO — The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is sticking to its usual one-import setup for the Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.
Commissioner Willie Marcial made the comment on Sunday, finally giving much-needed clarity to all the participating ball clubs waiting for that confirmation to better prepare for the second conference that starts late November.
“Import [setup] natin for the second conference, Commissioner’s Cup, isa lang. Unlimited height,” he said in an impromptu presser minutes before Game 5 of the San Miguel-Converge quarterfinal series at the Ynares Center here.
The league initially thought of implementing the two-import setup for the first time since 2002 while discussions with Hong Kong Eastern competing in the midseason tournament as a guest team grew serious.
Most fans welcomed the idea, with the general consensus being that it would help elevate the level of competition in Asia’s first pro league.
But eventually, the PBA decided to retain the one-import model, something that the foreign ball club has already agreed to, according to Marcial.
(C) A1 Division
The league expects Eastern to emulate what the Bay Area Dragons did back in the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup in circumventing the rules on reinforcements, as the reigning A1 Division champions may bring in their imports.
So far, Eastern – which is also competing in the 2024-25 East Asia Super League – has former PBA import Cam Clark and Dominic Gilbert as its foreign players.
“Pinag-usapan din namin sa Hong Kong Eastern yun kung sasali, kung anong setup natin sa import,” said Marcial, who’s been in office since 2018.
Eastern is all set to see action in the next conference and all that’s left for that to be formalized is a contract for the concerned parties to sign.
“Kontrata na lang,” said Marcial, who’s been in communication with club chairman Frankie Yau. “Pero in principle, OK na kami.”
