East Asia Super League aims high, from startup to Big 3

By JOHN PYE
AP Sports Writer

The East Asia Super League is set to launch next October featuring some of the region’s biggest domestic clubs. It’s banking on Asia’s home-grown talent to grow from an invitational event to the world’s third-biggest basketball league. One is the so-called Golden Boy of the Philippines. Another is the first 100 million-yen-a-season basketball player in Japan. The first home-and-away EASL season will start with eight clubs from Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan and a Hong Kong-based team full of free agents from Greater China. Organizers aim to expand to a 16-team competition by season three and are targeting Asia’s vast population.