PBA Developmental League


The PBA Developmental League, or PBA D-League, is the Philippine Basketball Association's official minor league basketball organization.

History

The PBA D-League was conceptualized after the collapse of the proposed merger between the Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas after the staging of the Tournament of the Philippines which was composed by PBL and Liga Pilipinas teams. PBA Commissioner Chito Salud proposed the formation of a PBA D-League, which will fill the void left by the PBL. On January 25, 2011, the PBA Board of Governors approved the proposal.
The maiden tournament, named "Foundation Cup" began on March 12, 2011 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan. The tournament composed of 13 teams, with five teams having affiliation with existing PBA teams. Four teams from the Philippine Basketball League filed for application in the PBA D-League, when they failed to acquire a sixth team in order to smoothly run the league. The NLEX Road Warriors became the champions of the tournament, winning two games to none against the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems.
The second tournament, dubbed as the "Aspirant's Cup" began on October 20. Four teams did not join the tournament. However, two new teams made their debut in the D-League.
The D-League has held its own rookie draft since the 2013–14 PBA season.
In August 2015, the PBA approved plans for a nationwide D-League and a Women's D-League that will open soon. From 2016, the men's competition will first be held in three separate, simultaneous tournaments, first in Luzon and later in the Visayas and Mindanao. The three regional champions could join the national championship round which will be joined by Metro Manila teams.
After 3 Playdates of the 2020 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup, the PBA announced the postponement of the games due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

Teams

Teams in the PBA D-League had to pay a participating fee either on a per conference or per season basis. Unlike the PBA, the number of participating teams may vary per conference.

Current teams

The following are the participating teams of the 2020 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup:

Former teams

List of champions