Wikipedia - Bay Area Dragons

The Bay Area Dragons were a professional basketball team in the East Asia Super League. Based in Hong Kong, the team was meant to represent the Greater China region.

Established in 2021, the team competed in the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup in the Philippines as a guest team and in the 2023 EASL Champions Week. They were disbanded in September 2023.

History

Formation

The Dragons were originally formed as the Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team for the East Asia Super League, representing Greater China. Hong Kong was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes. Both the Phoenixes and the P. League+ champions of Taiwan were designated by the EASL as Greater China's representatives.

The team was established under the agreement of the Hong Kong Basketball Association and Chun Yu Basketball Club. The Phoenixes are the only franchise team in the EASL, with other participating teams seeded from domestic leagues from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Former Chinese Basketball Association general manager Liu Quansheng was appointed as the team's first general manager.

Participation in the PBA

They entered the 2022–23 Commissioner's Cup of the Philippine Basketball Association which started in September 2022 as a guest team. The team also changed their name to the "Bay Area Dragons" upon joining the PBA, to avoid confusion with the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters. In May 2022, former NBL coach and incumbent Australia Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian was announced as the team's first head coach.

The Bay Area Dragons reached the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, becoming the fourth guest team to reach the last stage of a PBA competition. They could only field one of their two foreign players or import at a time in selected games. However, they would lose to the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, 4–3.

EASL Champions Week

The Dragons took part in the 2023 EASL Champions Week tournament where they finished third.

Planned PBA return and 2023–24 EASL participation

They are set to return in the Commissioner's Cup of the 2023–24 PBA season. However, they would be allowed to field one import for the whole conference. They underwent a rebrand and renamed themselves as the Chun Yu Bay Area Dragons. They were set to return to Hong Kong with their PBA games planned to be held there. The team which were also set to take part in the 2023–24 EASL season would sign five new players and retain eight players.

Disbandment

The Dragons' participation in the PBA and EASL was effectively cancelled after the EASL announced the Dragons's disbandment on 1 September 2023 reportedly due to financial reasons. The EASL mentions "conflict of interest" for managing a team and organizing the league at the same time, as the official reason for dissolving the club.

바이 아레나 드래곤스(Bay Area Dragons)는 동아시아 농구 리그(EASL)에 참가하는 필리핀의 프로 농구 팀이다. 2022년 6월 17일에 창설되었으며 필리핀 프로 농구(PBA)의 권한을 갖춘 하이 타이드 아시스트 그룹이 운영한다. 팀은 필리핀의 농구 수준을 높이고 동아시아 농구 리그에서 필리핀을 대표하기 위해 만들어졌다.

바이 아레나 드래곤스는 홍콩에서 열린 2022년 동아시아 농구 리그에서 데뷔했으며 4경기에서 2승 2패를 기록하며 8팀 중 5위를 차지했다. 팀은 2023년 동아시아 농구 리그에서도 뛰게 되며 목표는 우승이다.

바이 아레나 드래곤스는 강력한 팀을 구성하기 위해 필리핀의 최고 선수들을 영입했다. 팀의 주요 선수로는 조이 바라트(Jayson Barroca), 마리오 보리슨(Mario Borrisone), 제프 쿠리(Jeff Corsi)가 있다. 팀은 또한 미국 출신의 앤서니 캐리(Anthony Carter)와 제임스 오가라(James Oraegbu)를 영입했다.

바이 아레나 드래곤스는 필리핀의 자부심이며 동아시아 농구 리그에서 필리핀을 대표하는 강력한 팀이다. 팀은 동아시아 농구 리그에서 우승하는 것을 목표로 하고 있으며 필리핀 농구의 발전에 기여할 것이다.