The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines consisting of 29 teams.

Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is not intended to be a competitor to the top-flight Philippine Basketball Association, but rather to provide a gateway for local, homegrown talents to showcase their skills. The league uses a home-and-away format, similar to the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association. The MPBL started a semi-professional league before being granted professional status in 2021 by the Games and Amusements Board.

Further developments include the youth-oriented Junior MPBL, which launched in July 2023, and a volleyball counterpart called the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA), which launched in October 2023.

The Pampanga Giant Lanterns are the current defending champions, beating the Bacoor City Strikers in three games during the 2023 MPBL Finals.

History

Founding

Pacquiao formally launched the MPBL on August 29, 2017, with the intent to feature both the commercial and barangay-level side, with teams on the commercial side to have a home locality in addition to a corporate sponsor. The plan was for the league to begin with Luzon-based teams only and then expand to Visayas and Mindanao later on. The expanded league would have two divisions, North and South, where one team from both divisions face in a finals series similar to the format of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America. The league was planned to start as early as September 23, 2017 with at least six teams. A preseason tournament was held with the Bulacan Kuyas finishing as champions. Snow Badua was the league's inaugural commissioner, but he did not take on the role when the first season eventually began as six-time PBA champion Kenneth Duremdes succeeeded Badua as league commissioner on November 22, 2017.

Semi-professional era

The Smart Araneta Coliseum served as the venue for the league's inaugural gameday on January 25, 2018.

The MPBL began its inaugural season on January 25, 2018 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, with the requirement of each team having three homegrown players. In the opening game, the Parañaque Patriots scored a 70–60 victory over the Caloocan Supremos. The playoffs only had eight teams due to the small size, concluding with the Batangas City Athletics winning the inaugural title in the 2018 Finals against the Muntinlupa Cagers

In the 2018–19 season, the league added sixteen expansion teams, bringing the total to 26 teams. Five of the sixteen expansions are based in Visayas and Mindanao, thus marking the league's national expansion. The North and South Divisions were introduced and the playoff pool doubled to sixteen teams, eight per division. The league also placed roster restrictions on teams, only allowing one Filipino-foreigner and up to five ex-professional players, the former of which caused criticism from players and fans. This season also saw the inaugural edition of the MPBL All-Star Game, which was held at tge SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. The San Juan Knights would win the title that season against the Davao Occidental Tigers in the 2019 National Finals, which is to date, the only series to go the full length of five games.

The following 2019–20 season featured 31 teams participating in the league, the most the league had in its history, adding six expansion teams but also saw its first departing team, the Mandaluyong El Tigre. Roster restrictions were also relaxed, allowing more Filipino-foreigners and ex-professional players to play in the league. In December 2019, Chooks-to-Go of Bounty Agro Ventures became the title sponsor of the league under what was initially a five-year deal.

COVID-19 disruption

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the league suspended play on March 12, 2020. Nearly a year later, on March 6, 2021, the league announced the resumption of its playoffs. The remainder of the league's 2020 playoffs was held at a bubble at the Subic Bay Gymnasium. In a rematch of the 2019 National Finals series, the Davao Occidental Tigers won the 2021 National Finals against the San Juan Knights.

Because of the restrictions imposed by the government due to the pandemic, the league's 2020–21 season would be cancelled. The league's fourth season would be postponed multiple times before it eventually began in 2022. In October 2021, Chooks-to-Go took over the league's basketball operations.

Professional era

On November 9, 2021, it was announced that the MPBL would turn into a professional league. A month later, on December 9, 2021, the MPBL was granted professional status by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB). This also allowed the league to feature collegiate players on team rosters, as long as the player itself is a Special Guest Licensee. The league's first professional event was the 2021 Invitational. During which, all roster restrictions were lifted.

The 2022 season would finally begin over a year after last season's conclusion, which featured 22 of the 31 teams from the previous season. The season marked a new sponsorship with sports betting platform OKBet, succeeding Chooks-to-Go as the title sponsor. The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards became the first team to achieve a regular season sweep and subsequently won the 2022 National Finals against the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines. The succeeding 2023 season featured 29 teams, including two expansion teams and five returning teams. The season culminated with the homegrown-laden Pampanga Giant Lanterns sweeping the Bacoor City Strikers in the 2023 National Finals.

During this time, a trend began of teams participating in other leagues during the MPBL offseason. This first occurred in FilBasket during the Subic 2021 and Summer 2022 championships, which saw multiple teams participate due to the long gap between the 2019–20 and 2022 seasons. In recent years, teams that were eliminated for the season would compete in the Pilipinas Super League (PSL) during the offseason.

The upcoming 2024 season will feature 29 teams, which includes the arrival of three expansion teams but also the departure of three teams. The ex-professional player limit will also be removed, allowing teams to sign any number of professional players onto their rosters.

Further developments

Following the success of the MPBL, Pacquiao has made further developments in grassroots-based sports. On June 15, 2023, the Junior MPBL was unveiled in a press conference. The youth-oriented league's inaugural season began on July 9, 2023 with teams competing in 14-under, 16-under, and 18-under divisions. The junior league will soon feature a 21-under division, billed as the "Junior MPBL D-League", which will commence in May 2024. In the same press conference announcing the junior league, Pacquiao also shared intent to create a volleyball counterpart similar to the MPBL that will cater to female players. That league would be known as the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA) and began on October 22, 2023 with eight teams.

On November 7, 2023, the league launched its social arm, the MPBL Kalinga, with the goal of providing medical assistance to MPBL players, former and current, as well as league officials and staff.

菲律賓MPBL(Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League)是菲律賓最受歡迎的籃球聯賽之一。該聯賽於2017年成立,旨在提供一個平台,讓菲律賓籃球運動員能夠展示他們的才華和技巧。

MPBL是一個全國性的聯賽,吸引了來自不同地區和城市的球隊參賽。這些球隊代表著他們所在地區的驕傲和文化,並為球迷們帶來了激烈而精彩的比賽。

該聯賽的比賽風格激烈而具有競爭力,球員們展現出技巧和速度的絕佳結合。觀眾們可以期待看到高水平的籃球比賽,包括精湛的投籃技巧、驚人的灌籃和精確的傳球。

MPBL的比賽場地經常爆滿,球迷們為自己支持的球隊瘋狂歡呼,營造出一個熱情洋溢的氛圍。這個聯賽不僅僅是一場籃球比賽,更是一個凝聚了菲律賓人民熱愛籃球的集體體驗。

菲律賓MPBL不僅為球迷們提供了一個觀賞高水平籃球比賽的機會,同時也為年輕的籃球運動員提供了一個發展自己技能的平台。這個聯賽為年輕球員們提供了一個展示自己才華的舞台,並有機會被國家隊或國際籃球聯賽的球隊選中。

總之,菲律賓MPBL是一個引人入勝的籃球聯賽,結合了激烈的比賽、熱情的球迷和優秀的球員。無論是球迷還是球員,都能在這個聯賽中感受到籃球的魅力和激情。