The Vietnam Basketball Association ( vi, Giải bóng rổ chuyên nghiệp Việt Nam), often abbreviated as VBA, is a Vietnamese national professional basketball

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

founded in 2016.

History

The formation of the VBA was announced by charter team

Saigon Heat The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since the 2014 season, the Heat's home games are played at the CIS Arena on the campus of the Canadian International School in District 7. Saig ...

following their completion of the 2015–16

ASEAN Basketball League The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a professional men's basketball league in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong/Macau, which includes six teams from Southeast Asian nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), one tea ...

season. Leading up to the inaugural season, the VBA expected 6 teams would compete in the new league. However, only 5 teams were officially unveiled. To oversee league operations, the VBA looked to the Philippines to find someone with an extensive basketball background. Tonichi Pujante was named the inaugural league commissioner. In January 2020, the VBA announced that the upcoming season would feature one additional team located in the province of Khanh Hoa on the Southern Coast of Vietnam. The team reportedly was going to play in the 2019 season tournament, but plans fell through. The new team is unofficially called the "Nha Trang Dolphins."

Teams

The VBA started its inaugural season with 5 teams. The league added the Thang Long Warriors as its 6th franchise in the 2017 season. Going into the 2020 season, the VBA added the Nha Trang Dolphins in

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...

, Khánh Hòa as its 7th franchise.

Regular season

Following the summer break, the preseason begins typically in May. During this time, the teams build their 13–16-man rosters with each team allowed one foreign, two Overseas Vietnamese, and 10–13 local players. The VBA regular season currently begins at the beginning of June and runs to the end of the September. Each team plays 12 games, divided between 6 home and 6 away matches. At the end of the regular season, the league's overall leader is awarded the Fans' Shield.

Playoffs

At the conclusion of the regular, the VBA Playoffs begins. In the inaugural season, all 5 teams are eligible for the tournament style playoffs. However, the teams that finish in the #4 and #5 seeds must meet each other in a

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

game to move on to the playoffs. The winner of the game meets the #1 seeded team. In the 2017 season onward, there are 6 teams, and the wildcard game is eliminated. #1 will play #4 and the #2 seeded team meets the #3 seeded team in a best-of-three series. The winners move on to meet in the VBA Finals.

Champions

Current teams that have no VBA Finals appearances: Nha Trang Dolphins

References

External links

* * * {{Men's professional basketball leagues 2016 establishments in Vietnam Basketball competitions in Vietnam Basketball leagues in Asia Sports leagues established in 2016 Sports leagues in Vietnam