East Asia Super League set to have its biggest event yet in Cebu

Soon, the world will know aboutthe East Asia Super League.

The rapidly growing leagueacross East Asia is set to have its biggest event yet: the EASLFinal Four happening March 8-10 in Cebu, Philippines.

Dubbed the "Champions League" ofEast Asian basketball, the EASL combines the best clubs from thetop leagues in East Asia with elite production value. The teams inthe Final Four are Korea’s Seoul SK Knights and Anyang Jung KwanJang Red Boosters, Taiwan’s New Taipei Kings, and Japan’s ChibaJets. The Red Boosters come in as the defending champions followingtheir win over their Korean neighbors, SK Knights, in last year’sinaugural championship in Japan.

EASL’s vision is to become oneof the world’s top professional basketball leagues. At the sametime, EASL aims to elevate the sport of basketball across the EastAsia region.

But what makes the leaguedifferent is the style of play and the brand of basketball eachteam employs. While leagues like the NBA lean on athleticism, teamsin the EASL use a lot of running and transition as well as relyingon spacing.

“Our play style is fast, andpretty open court. We use dynamic guards a lot and rely onspacing,” New Taipei Kings’ Joseph Lin told BasketballNews in theopening press conference of the league’s Final Fourtournament.

The 6-foot-1 Lin, the brother offormer NBA player and champion Jeremy Lin, will attempt to bringthe title to Taiwan as they go up against the Chiba Jets in thesemifinals.

Anyang Jung Kwan Jang RedBoosters’ Filipino import Rhenz Abando echoed the younger Lin’ssentiments as he came home to play in front of Filipino fans inCebu: “[Our play style] isalso the same with Taipei, we are also fast and have a lot of ballmovement and spacing.”

Going up against Abando and theRed Boosters are the SK Knights in a rematch of last year’s finalsmatchup. Star player Oh Jae Hyun reflects the opinions of thebasketball played in the EASL.

“Our team’s main strength isfast-paced basketball, which requires rebounding and pressing thedefense so we can force turnovers and push it on the other side,”Hyun added.

Aside from Lin, a number formerNBA players have played in the EASL including Lance Stephenson (Liaoning FlyingLeopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNTKaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (SeoulSK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong GoldenStars). Austin Daye, a2014 NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, is a teammate to Linon New Taipei.

With the league’s Final Fourevent aiming to have massive success in the Philippines, EASL CEOHenry Kerins is optimistic that the EASL will grow even more andincrease the number of teams soon.

“Our ambition is to expand fromeight teams to 16 teams and that will include new geographies andnew clubs,” Kerins shared. “Obviously, there’s a huge amount ofdevelopment and expansion for us to do and that’s where the topbasketball talent is right now – Asia.”

Kerins further noted that thisis only the start for EASL as it looks to increase its globalmarket and viewership in the coming months andyears.

“Our focus right now isdeveloping and expanding that and deepening both our penetration onthe media partnerships. This is the beginning, and in 2025 you’regoing to see a much more mature and aggressive strategy forexpanding that," Kerins said. "We will be expanding our presenceand that will lead to more clubs participating – so hold for thatin terms of our announcements but that’s our vision and plan goingforward.”