Chinese basketball bosses planning direct rival to East Asia Super League, want CBA and Hong Kong clubs involved
- Hong Kong Eastern welcomes initiative, which is being backed by East Asia Basketball Association
- Rival outfit has already held talks with Japan’s B League, hoping to bring Korea and Taiwan on board
Basketball officials in China are planning to launch a rival regional competition to the East Asia Super League, and hope to convince clubs on the mainland and in Hong Kong to sign up.
The city’s only professional team, Hong Kong Eastern, told the Post it was “extremely interested” in being part of the new project, which has been dubbed the Rising East Asia League.
Jay Li Jintian, whose previous experience includes international business development with the NBA, as well as strategy and teams operations with the Chinese Basketball Association, is heading up the project.
The initiative falls under the auspices of the East Asia Basketball Association, a sub-section of Fiba Asia, which is currently chaired by former NBA star Yao Ming.
Li said the plan was to look at the present state of competition in the region and assess what could “be done to help develop the basketball ecosystem in the region in a bigger and better way”.
