Tag Archives: nlex

Goodbye Air 21, Welcome NLEX

Asi Taulava - Air 21

The Philippine Basketball Association Board of Governors approved the sale of Air 21 to Metro Pacific Investments Corp. which owns NLEX. Manny V Pangilinan now has three teams in the PBA: Talk N Text, Meralco and NLEX. Since NLEX acquired Air 21, there will be just two additional teams for the PBA 40th Season, KIA Motors and Blackwater Sports.

New PBA Teams: NLEX, Kia, and Blackwater

PBA Logo

The PBA Board of Governors approved the entry of 3 new PBA Teams for the Philippine Basketball Association 40th Season. The three teams are NLEX, Kia and Blackwater.

There will be no direct hires for the new PBA teams since only NLEX and Blackwater have PBA D-League teams. Players for the 3 teams will come from the PBA Draft, Expansion Draft and the Free Agent pool.

The current PBA Teams can protect up to 12 players from their roster and the excess can be drafted by the new PBA teams. The 3 new PBA teams will also have the last 3 picks in the 1st round of the PBA draft and the 1st 3 picks of the 2nd round plus all draft picks in the 3rd round onwards.