2019–20 MPBL Season

The 2019–2020 MPBL season, known as the MPBL Lakan Season or Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Season for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League and the second full season with a national scope. It was officially opened June 12, 2019 at the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay, which coincided with the Philippine Independence Day. From 26 teams in the last conference, the third season featured 31 team.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the season was suspended on March 11, 2020, prior to the deciding games of the Division Finals. It resumed almost a year later, on March 10, 2021, in a bubble set-up in Subic, Zambales. It ended on March 21, 2021, with Davao Occidental Tigers winning the championship against the San Juan Knights after four games in a best-of-five championship series, three games to one. Mark Yee of the Tigers was named as the Finals Most Valuable Player for that series.

Format

The format for this season was:
* Just like the last season, all teams will play in a single round-robin regardless of division. Each team will have 30 games in their schedule.
* At the end of the group stage, if there are games which were postponed during the regular season, the game/s shall be played especially if there will be significant effects in the standings after these games are played.
* If there are ties in the standings, these will be broken via the following criterion: 1. Head-to-head matchup, 2. Point difference against each other 3. Record vs. the other division, and if necessary, the quotient system.
* Playoffs, the first round, division semifinals, and the division finals will be in a best-of-three series, while the MPBL Finals or the National Finals will be a best-of-five series.

Notable events

Transactions

Coaching changes

Team changes

Six new teams entered the season joined for this cup:
# Sarangani Marlins
# Iloilo United Royals
# Bicol Volcanoes
# Mindoro Tamaraws
# Nueva Ecija ForestLake
# Bacolod Master Sardines

Name changes

* The Imus Bandera changed their team name to Imus Khaleb Shawarma before the start of the season
* The Cebu City Sharks changed their team name to Cebu Sharks before the start of the season
* The Laguna Heroes changed their team name to Biñan City Krah Heroes before the start of the season
* The Valenzuela Classic changed their team name to Valenzuela SPVTOP Marketplace in June 2019
* The Navotas Clutch changed their team name to Navotas Uni-Pak Sardines in June 2019
* The Nueva Ecija MiGuard changed their team name to Nueva Ecija ForestLake in August 2019
* The Nueva Ecija ForestLake changed their team name to Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards in October 2019
* The Cebu Sharks changed their name to Cebu Casino Ethyl Alcohol in October 2019
* The Valenzuela SPVTOP Marketplace changed their team name to Val City-Carga Backload Solution in November 2019
* The Soccsksargen Marlins-Armor On changed their team name to Sarangani Marlins in November 2019
* The Biñan City Krah Heroes changed their team name to Biñan City Luxxe White in November 2019
* The Bataan Risers changed their team name to 1Bataan Risers-Camaya Coast in November 2019
* The Imus Khaleb Shawarma changed their team name to Imus Bandera-Luxxe Slim in December 2019

Opening ceremonies

The muses for the participating teams are as follows:

Regular season

Northern Division

Southern Division

Results

Not all games are in home–away format. Each team plays every team once. Number of asterisks after each score denotes number of overtimes played.

Playoffs

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Teams with home court advantage, the higher seeded team, are shown in italics.

Northern Division

The Makati Super Crunch were unable to host games at the Makati Coliseum; so for the instances that they were to host a game, their opponents hosted, instead.

First Round

In the first round, the teams were grouped into two groups. The No. 1 and the No. 4 teams hosted alternately, while the No. 2 and No. 3 teams did the same, with the top two seeds hosting game 3 if they are still in contention.

Division Semifinals

The top two remaining seeds hosted alternately, with the top remaining seeded team hosting game 3 if they are still in contention.

Division Finals

The remaining teams would've hosted alternately. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, game 2 was played behind closed doors. Competition was then suspended for a year, until the league were cleared by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to host a bubble in Subic, Zambales, where all remaining games were played.

Southern Division

The Davao Occidental Tigers were unable to host a game in Davao Occidental due to lack of facilities; all of the games they would have hosted have been held in the Metro Davao area.

First Round

In the first round, the teams were grouped into two groups. The No. 1 and the No. 4 teams hosted alternately, while the No. 2 and No. 3 teams did the same, with the top two seeds hosting game 3 if they are still in contention.

Division Semifinals

The top two remaining seeds hosted alternately, with the top remaining seeded team hosting game 3 if they are still in contention.

Division Finals

The remaining teams would've hosted alternately. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the game 2, which was supposed to be hosted by the lower-seeded team, was played behind closed doors. Competition was then suspended for a year, until the league were cleared by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to host a bubble in Subic, Zambales, where all remaining games will be played.

The Basilan Steel defaulted Game 3 after multiple positive COVID-19 tests inside the bubble.

MPBL Finals

All games will be held in the Subic Gym Gymnasium in Subic, Zambales inside a bubble.

Awards

The individual league awards was given during the Game 4 of the 2021 MPBL Lakan Cup National Finals at the Subic Bay Gymnasium in Subic.

Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 MPBL Lakan Cup

2019 in Philippine basketball
2020 in Philippine basketball
MPBL season
2021 in Philippine basketball