The Bay Area Dragons were a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team in the

East Asia Super League The East Asia Super League (EASL) is an international basketball league featuring clubs from Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Hong Kong, and Macau. From 2017 to 2019, four pre-season tournaments (the Super 8 and the ...

. Based in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, the team was meant to represent the

Greater China In ethnogeography, "Greater China" is a loosely-defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people, often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage. The notion contains ...

region. Established in 2021, the team competed in the

2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup The 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup, also known as the 2022–23 Honda PBA Commissioner's Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the second conference of the 2022–23 PBA season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The 20th edition of th ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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

, representing

was made as the home venue of the Phoenixes. Both the Phoenixes and the P. League+ champions of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

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 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Taiwan,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and the

. Former

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

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 The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

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 The Phoenix Fuel Masters is a professional basketball team owned by Phoenix Petroleum, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which debuted in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in the 2015–16 PBA season, 2016 2016 PBA Commissioner's C ...

. In May 2022, former NBL coach and incumbent Australia Boomers head coach

Brian Goorjian Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). In an NBL coaching career spanning over 20 y ...

was announced as the team's first head coach. The Bay Area Dragons reached the

2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals The 2022–23 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner's Cup finals was the best-of-7 championship series of the 2022–23 PBA Commissioner's Cup, and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel a ...

, 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 The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distiller ...

, 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 were set to return in the Commissioner's Cup of the

2023–24 PBA season The 2023–24 PBA season (or PBA season 48) was the 48th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Due to the participation of Philippine men's national basketball team in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 2022 Asian Games, the ...

. 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.

Home venue

The Southorn Stadium, an indoor arena in

Wan Chai Wan Chai (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 灣仔) is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal St ...

was the designated home venue of the Dragons. However they never played any competitive EASL or PBA games in the venue since the team got disbanded.

Season-by-season records

List of notable personnel

Players

* Andrew Nicholson * Liu Chuanxing * Liu Xiaoyu *

Duncan Reid Duncan Overbeck Reid (born 28 September 1989) is a Hong Kong-Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Bay Area Dragons of the East Asia Super League (EASL). Professional career He has played for South China in the A1 ...

* Sedrick Barefield * Myles Powell

Coaches

(Head coach) *

Pocholo Villanueva Pocholo "Cholo" Iñigo Villanueva (born November 24, 1982) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He currently serves as the head coach for the Tanduay Rum Masters. He previously served as the assistant coach for the Bay Area Drag ...

(Assistant coach)

2022–23 season roster

Honours

(PBA): :Runners-up (1):

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Commissioner's Cup

Notes

References

External links

Bay Area Dragons
– East Asia Super League Profile {{East Asia Super League 2021 establishments in Hong Kong 2023 disestablishments in Hong Kong Basketball teams established in 2021 Basketball teams disestablished in 2023 Basketball teams in Hong Kong Guest Philippine Basketball Association teams East Asia Super League teams