EASL team Macau Black Bears are taking their act to the PBA as the league’s guest team in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup.
The Black Bears’ stint in Asia’s first and oldest pay-for-play league was formalized on Friday after officials from the PBA, led by commissioner Willie Marcial and PBA Board Vice Chairman Alfrancis Chua, and Macau management, including team president Lukas Peng and team owner Jacky Fung, signed a Memorandum of Agreement sealing the latter’s entry into the midseason tourney.
With this development, the Black Bears will be the third guest team to compete in the Commissioner’s Cup. They will be following in the footsteps of the Bay Area Dragons (Season 47) and Hong Kong Eastern (Season 48).
Who Are the Macau Black Bears?
The Macau Black Bears previously campaigned in the now-defunct ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), where they played for four seasons (2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2023). They were originally the Chong Son Kung Fu and entered the ABL as the Nanhai Kung Fu. They officially became the Black Bears in 2018 after partnering with Macau’s Grupo Desportivo Chong Son and relocating to Macau.
At the moment, the Black Bears are competing in the EASL and are led by prolific point guard Damian Chongqui. The Macau roster also boasts Omari Peek-Green, Phoenix Shackelford, and 7-foot-6 Sam Deguara. Last year, the team played a tune-up game with Gilas Pilipinas to prepare the latter for its FIBA Asia Cup campaign. Macau built as much as a 21-point lead in the first half, only to see Gilas launch a furious second-half run to notch the win.
Are They Any Good?
From all indications, the Macau Black Bears aren’t on the level of the Bay Area Dragons and Hong Kong Eastern. In fact, in the ABL, the farthest Macau got was the semis back in the 2017–18 season. In the ongoing EASL, meanwhile, the Black Bears are still winless in six games and have already lost twice to the PBA’s Meralco Bolts.
Of course, the Macau Black Bears have more than enough time to reinforce their roster with top-tier talent to complement Chongqui while sticking to the PBA’s rules for foreign teams. Otherwise, they’ll likely have a hard time accomplishing what Bay Area and Hong Kong Eastern failed to do: win the Commissioner’s Cup title.
