Taiwan’s professional basketball landscape is expected to become more integrated, as P.League+ (PLG) and the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) plan to collaborate in the 2025-2026 season.
The 10 teams from the two leagues met on Wednesday and “reached a consensus to collaborate,” TPBL commissioner Chuang Jui-hsiung said at a news conference in Taipei.
All teams have received a letter of intent, and more than half have responded to the initiative.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“We are working on holding a joint draft, but the remaining specifics — such as the draft order, rules and regulations, and schedule — are still under discussion and will be announced once finalized,” Chuang said.
The 10 teams include seven from the TPBL and three from the PLG, with the Kaohsiung Steelers the only exception.
The Steelers, which have been a PLG franchise since the 2021-2022 season, are reportedly being disbanded after failing to find a new sponsor.
On Tuesday, Chuang Chao-sheng, who just completed his rookie season with the Steelers, officially joined the Tainan TSG GhostHawks.
However, during a livestream on Wednesday following the announcement, TPBL commentator Hu Chun-chi said that it might still be too early to say the collaboration is settled, adding that “anything can happen before the pact is inked.”
Hu’s comment brought to mind the summer of last year, when all 11 teams from the two leagues announced plans to pursue a merger — only for the talks to fall through.
Since the establishment of the T1 League — the predecessor of the TPBL — in 2021, when the two leagues combined for 12 franchises, concerns have lingered over market oversaturation, limited talent and a lack of variety in match-ups.
If all teams play one another in the next season, there could be up to 45 match-ups in the regular season — up from 21 in the TPBL and six in the PLG during the 2024-2025 season.
Many fans also look forward to the possibility of former NBA combo guard Jeremy Lin and Lin “The Beast” Chih-chieh, widely regarded as an all-time great in Taiwanese basketball history, facing off in what could be their final season.
In late March, Lin Chih-chieh re-signed with Taipei Fubon for one more year. Jeremy Lin, who just led the New Taipei Kings to the TPBL’s inaugural championship, has yet to announce his next move.
Kaohsiung Aquas executive officer Wilson Lee said in a VideoSports program in late May that the ongoing talks mark the third straight year that franchise owners from the two leagues have negotiated either a merger or collaboration, and that both sides have “cut into the topic much more directly.”
Chuang Chao-sheng said he believes the two leagues are “heading in the right direction,” adding that a second face-to-face meeting is scheduled for later this month.
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Monday published an essay about Chinese basketball it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Thursday that the article was based on a series of interviews. The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, had said James authored the essay, “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us,” a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person. “LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account. On Thursday, a representative
San Francisco Giants pitcher Teng Kai-wei impressed against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday despite an 8-1 loss in the opener of the team’s nine-game road trip. Teng, the only Taiwanese pitcher active in MLB, struck out five while allowing two hits and one walk over four innings at Chase Field to finish with a no decision, as the teams were tied 1-1 when he finished his outing. He surrendered the lone run of his outing in the bottom of the first, which began with a walk, a hit-by-pitch and two strikeouts. Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo advanced to third on
RSS