PBA Developmental League takes back seat–marcial

THE Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-league) will have to remain in the back seat until the pandemic smoke clears, PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said.

And with the spike of Covid-19 cases in the past few days that prompted stricter health and safety measures, it looked like it would take longer to see the return of the PBA’S farm league.

“The D-league’s in a grey area, we still don’t have any plans yet [for resumption],” Marcial told Businessmirror on Thursday.

The D-league is composed of 12 teams, 11 of which are amateur collegiate squads. The Joint Administrative Order group composed of the Department of Health, Games and Amusements Board and Philippine Sports Commission only allow professional sports to return to action in bubble environments.

“Collegiate teams are not yet allowed to play and their mother schools will probably not allow them to play as well,” Marcial said.

The D-league opened its Aspirants’ Cup in March last year but like the PBA, which kicked off with only one game in the Philippine Cup, the league was abruptly shut down because of the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.

“Most of our teams are in the UAAP

[University Athletic Association of the Philippines] and NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association],” Marcial said. “If the two collegiate leagues get the green light, we’ll see what we can do.”

The NCAA and UAAP announced their intentions to return to action this year but both leagues have yet to get the approval of the JAO and the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“If all goes well, the PBA will go back to regular operations and will be rebooting

to a brand new season starting with the Aspirants’ Cup and followed by the Foundation Cup,” he said.

Cignal Hd-ateneo topped the Aspirants’ Cup and BRT Sumisip Basilan-st. Clare ruled the Foundation Cup in the 2019 season.

The other D-league teams are AMA, Centro Escolar University, Diliman College, De La Salle, Far Eastern University, Enderun, Letran, Mapua, San Sebastian, Technological Institute of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas and Marinerong Pilipino.