The Vancouver Dragons Is professional basketball team in the PRO Basketball Association, (PBA) 2021-Present Owner: Marcus "Doc" Stancil (2019-Present) GM: Richard Howard (2021-Present) Head Coach: Davis Thurston (2021-Present)

History

In 2001, David Tuckman of Tuckon's Sports proposed a $150 million sports arena and performing arts center project to the city council of

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as a s ...

, an affluent Seattle suburb, to be built on three acres of city-owned land downtown. Tuckman needed sports tenants to sign long-term leases in order to obtain financing for his project, so he paid $125,000 in cash in 2003 to purchase a CBA expansion franchise for Bellevue to become an anchor tenant. The league gave Tuckman permission to play at nearby

Bellevue Community College Bellevue College (BC) is a public college in Bellevue, Washington, United States. It is the largest of the 34 institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and the third-largest institution of higher educatio ...

(BCC) for three years while Bellevue Civic Center Arena was being built at NE 8th and 112th NE across the street from the Meydenbauer Convention Center. When it was determined that BCC would not be a suitable venue for professional basketball, Tuckman moved the team to Vancouver and changed the name to the Dragons. Tuckman negotiated a three-year lease with the

Pacific National Exhibition The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is a nonprofit organization that operates an annual 15-day summer fair, 10-day winter fair, a seasonal amusement park, and indoor arenas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The PNE fair is held at Hastings ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, to play 24 home games each year in the 4,500-seat

Agrodome The Agrodome in Rotorua is a major tourist attraction in New Zealand. The farm theme park, majority-owned by Christchurch-based Ngāi Tahu Tourism, was founded in 1971. History The Agrodome was set up in 1971 by Godfrey Bowen and George Harford ...

in 2006. That same year, Vancouver was awarded the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

and the Dragons' lease was deferred until the conclusion of the games due to the high demand for indoor sports facilities leading up to the Olympics. In a 2006 interview with the ''Vancouver Sun'' newspaper, Tuckman said that one of the hurdles to playing in Vancouver was that most international players had single-entrance visas, which meant that if they left the United States to play a game in Canada, they could not return to the U.S. The Dragons were intended to play in the ABA with Tuckman's other teams. This would be the fourth time that Vancouver had a professional basketball team; Vancouver's other professional teams were the

World Basketball League World Basketball League (WBL) was a minor professional basketball league in the United States and Canada that ran from 1988 to 1992. It was founded as the International Basketball Association in November 1987, before changing its name prior to the 1 ...

's Vancouver Nighthawks, the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

and the

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

BC Titans The BC Titans were a professional basketball team in the International Basketball League located in Langley, British Columbia. The team name was announced on April 2, 2008 and the Titans started play in 2009. The Titans played all home games at ...

. The Vancouver Dragons team was sold to Marcus "Doc" Stancil in 2019, and with new ownership the team was relocated from Vancouver BC to Vancouver Washington and moved from the ABA to the PBA (Pro Basketball Association) for the 2021 season.

Minor League Basketball Association

In November 2017, it was announced that the team would be one of the inaugural franchises in the Minor League Basketball Association (MLBA) and play their home games at the David E. Endarson Gymnasium at

Trinity Western University Trinity Western University (TWU) is a Private university, private Christian liberal arts university with campuses in both Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley and Richmond, British Columbia, Richmond, British Columbia. The sch ...

in Langley, British Columbia, just east of the city of

, in the

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the ...

part of the

Metro Vancouver Regional District The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 r ...

. They won the 2018 MLBA championship.Vancouver Dragons 2018 MLBA Champions

ABA

The Vancouver Dragons joined the ABA in the 2018 - 2019 Season to be the only Canadian team in the league. They play in the ABA Far West Region. The team plays its Home Games at the

Richmond Olympic Oval The Richmond Olympic Oval (french: Anneau olympique de Richmond) is an indoor multi-sports arena in the Canadian city of Richmond, British Columbia. The oval was built for the 2010 Winter Olympics and was originally configured with a speed skating ...

with 8,000 seats for basketball and is in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a coastal city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough), between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the ad ...

, a suburb of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

just south of the city near the

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busiest ...

, In 2019 ownership was sold to Marcus "Doc" Stancil who relocated the team from Vancouver BC to Vancouver Washington and moved from the ABA to the PBA. VancouverDragons

PBA

The Dragons join the Pro Basketball Association for the augural season of the league in 2021 in the North West Division. They finished their first year with a record of 4-6.

References

External links

*PBA website - http://pbaplayers.com *Vancouver Dragons PBA Website - http://pbaplayers.com/team/dragons/ *
Official Website of the Vancouver Dragons
{{ABA Teams, state=expanded American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams Continental Basketball Association teams

Dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

Basketball teams established in 2006 Minor League Basketball Association 2006 establishments in British Columbia