PBA D-League resumption to depend on NCAA, UAAP

MANILA, Philippines – The PBA Developmental League will rely on the return of collegiate leagues before plotting any resumption possibility of its shelved Aspirants’ Cup amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aside from government approval on sports resumption, return of the classes and collegiate leagues will also be a pre-requisite for the PBA’s developmental arm before resuming play with its first conference dominated by school-based squads.

“Right now, as we all know, most of our teams are collegiate teams so we’re still waiting for the two major leagues for the announcement of their return,” said PBA deputy commissioner and operations manager Eric Castro in Tuesday’s PSA Forum.

“From there, we’ll see in the calendar when we can re-start the D-League.”

While other leagues in the country might be allowed pending the green light from health authorities should quarantine restrictions continue to ease up, the D-League may still be on the side-track as it also banks on the comeback of major collegiate leagues like the UAAP and the NCAA.

And that return may be a long shot for now as the said leagues are already considering to open in early 2021 from their traditional season opener schedule mid-year.

The NCAA and the UAAP, which usually opens in July and September, respectively, have cited the uncertainties of the COVID-19 end along with the several go-signals they have to get from different government agencies as factors in the possible season delay. 

School-based teams participating in the Aspirants’ Cup are Builders Warehouse-UST, EcoOil-DLSU, Apex Mindanao-San Sebastian, SeaOil-FEU, Mapua, Diliman College, Family Mart- Enderun, TIP, Wangs Basketball-Letran, AMA Online Senior High and Karate Kid-CEU.

Marinerong Pilipino is the only club team in the D-League's first conference that was indefinitely put on hold last March.