The ASEAN Basketball League

The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a men's professional basketball league in Southeast Asia that began in October 2009. The inaugural season competed by 6 clubs from 6 different countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).[1] The league was proposed in Kuala Lumpur and launched on October 1, 2009.[1]

However, the ABL is different than Euroleague or Asia Champions Cup in terms of participants. Most of ABL teams do not even compete in any country's basketball league, such as Brunei Barracudas, Thailand Tigers or even the first season's champion, Philippine Patriots. Those teams are actually the representation of each nation. Hence, ABL can be defined as a competition for "nations" rather than a competition for "clubs", although each team is allowed to hire imported players. Only club from Indonesian, Satria Muda BritAma, which is a regular club plays in the Indonesian National Basketball League (NBL).

Basketball luminaries from 6 ASEAN nations gathered at the Renaissance Hotel, Makati City in Metro Manila, Philippines on September 1, 2009 to officially signal the beginning of a new era in Southeast Asian basketball.

In addition to the local basketball leagues in their respective countries, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore have all contributed in setting up a regional league that will, in no doubt, pour into a simmering cauldron diverse basketball styles, as well as the passion of country-to-country rivalries.

Teams that participated in the inaugural season were the Philippine Patriots, Thailand Tigers, SM BritAma, Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Brunei Barracudas and former National Basketball League (Australia) team the Singapore Slingers.

Mirroring the Euroleague in the West, the ABL has its own set of rules in terms of its roster makeup and salary caps.

As for player personnel, teams are permitted 2 imports of non-ASEAN citizenship, 2 ASEAN imports, one player with one Southeast Asian parent, and seven local players. Teams are allowed to field a team of all local players if they wish so.