PBA D-League to go nationwide

TOKYO – The Philippine Basketball Association is expanding its Developmental League or D-League to cover Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and is putting up a separate women’s league as part of the pro league’s extensive long-term program.

In their continuing planning session at Tokyo Hilton here, the PBA board of governors has also agreed to embark on a sports academy three to five years from now and start a retired players welfare fund which is different from the players trust fund that is solely for education.

Deferred is the decision on the PBA membership application of the Lamoiyan Corp. (Hapee Toothpaste) and Racal Motors.

“We will accommodate expansion teams, maybe two, within the next three to five years, depending on the performance of the last two (Kia and Blackwater) that we accepted,” said PBA president/chief executive officer Chito Salud.

The PBA board, led by chairman Robert Non of San Miguel Beer, wants to regain competitive balance of all teams before entertaining additional expansion teams.

Getting the nod of the league board is the expansion of the PBA D-League, five years after its conceptualization following the failed merger of the Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas.

The D-League is to hold a pilot tourney in Laoag early next year for the Luzon chapter. Next up are separate D-League tourneys in Cebu for the Visayas and Davao for Mindanao. These events could lead to the holding of one national championship joined in by teams from Manila.

Current D-League teams include Café France, Tanduay, Cebuana Lhuillier, Jumbo Plastic, KeraMix, AMA Computer University, MP Hotel-Letran, Hapee and LiverMarin-San Sebastian.

Over 20 other teams have played in the D-League, with former champs NLEX and Blackwater having moved up to the PBA.

Among former D-League participants are Max Bond, Pharex, Freego Jeans, Dub Unlimited Wheelers, Junior Powerade, PC Gilmore, RnW Pacific Pipes, Erase XFoliant, Informatics, Fruitas, EA Regen Med, Banco De Oro, Hog’s Breath Café, Derulo Accelero, Big Chill, Wang’s, MJM Builders, Bread Story and Cagayan Valley.

The D-League plays a key role in the development of Filipino players, serving as the bridge tourney for players in their graduation from collegiate players to pros.

The proposed Women’s D-League intends to provide venue for women’s players to continue to hone their skills after their collegiate stints. It could also be the training ground for the women’s national team now under the care of Ever Bilena (Blackwater).