Fastest Growing League You Didn't Know About

While basketball leagues like the NBA & the EuroLeague sit at the top, there is one league in Asia that’s growing rapidly and that’s the B.League in Japan. Discover what Japanese basketball is all about and why we might be hearing about the B.League more and more in the future.
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Did you know about this league? Can it become one of the bigger ones? 🤔 Let us know your opinion in the comments below! ✍ If you enjoyed the video, help us grow by hitting the like button & subscribing to our channel! 🔥 Lastly, follow us on social media for more content: Twitter: twitter.com/basketnews_com/ Instagram: instagram.com/basketnews/ Inquiries for partnership: [e-mail]

[@Pastyyy]

As a Filipino I’m glad B-League is getting the recognition it deserves. Unlike our local league here. Even Manny Pacquiao’s league is better nowadays

[@newagain9964]

Bruh. I just knew u had to drop manny’s name.

[@dar6405]

PBA 🤮🤮

[@ianmarco1375]

@@newagain9964 its worth mentioning and MPBL was Pacquiao's league before he left it.

[@Cloud-wf2nt]

MPBL is the best league right now, it's actually a really good thing to invest there if you have money PBA is a dying business, I don't even see viewers in that league anymore, it's dying While MPBL always has full seats cause most of the team represents their province, it's a really good thought out league

[@solar_warden81]

PBA is hot garbage 🗑️

[@paulherrera8595]

My opinion as a Filipino: -parity and fairness -no corruption -open to improvement and modernization -more imports -higher salary -open to foreign coaches (Tim Cone and Norman who are basically Filipino) -supports national team

[@AMACHiiBiong]

some of the Philippines’ elite ballers now playing in Japan’s B. League 🏀 Not surprising, since the Philippines’ own PBA is down in the dumps

[@Jose.AFT.Saddul]

I heard Filipinos could develop much better playing abroad. Since they get to train with more international players. Unlike the PBA which limits teams to one foreigner or “import”.

[@kawaiipotatoes7888]

Top young filipino players plays in bleague. Heck if we put 5 best bleague filipino players vs 5 best pba players the bleague ones would win 7 out of 10.

[@tnsle000]

i would too. the style and structure of game are modern unlike the PBA/MPBL that is "inter barangay" style of play.

[@marksines1246]

philippine basketball is stuck in the 90’s play style most of the time

[@jakeoruas8198]

​@@Jose.AFT.SaddulNot to mention the height limit of the imports only in the Philippines

[@raijinrasetsuii8820]

J‐League football and Nippon Baseball League rule Japan. Basketball is just recently rising. They are even importing Filipinos to play for their teams. Whenever I think of Japanese basketball, I can't help but remember Slam Dunk and the anime with the generational players.

[@draspen]

Japan also has the perfect time zone to watch NBA games.

[@khaiwee9024]

As an asian basketball enjoyer, i'd like to correct that Basketball rn comes in after Baseball, Football and Volleyball. The japanese really do love their volleyball and the leagues / competitions are established way before any basketball leagues set foot in the country Which is no hard knock on the sport, it's still the fastest growing sport in the country. Even surpasing rugby at some point

[@WastedBananas]

what about sumo?

[@OperaVanDubels]

​@@WastedBananas that's a national sport shouldn't compare it with entertainment sport

[@kushalkarki7215]

But in japan football is boom because their players are playing in top leagues like mitoma , tomiyasu so to beat football in Japan it's quite long journey

[@khaiwee9024]

@@kushalkarki7215 oh definetly but mitoma or tomiyasu is still far eclipsed by shohei ohtani as japan's most popular sports person rn i'd argue that the likes of yuki ishikawa, yuji nishida and ran takahashi are bigger names than watanabe or hachimura

[@vassiliskyriakou]

​@@khaiwee9024 I had no idea that Japanese people love baseball even before the ww2. And I only found out about this after I watched an Asadora series called "Yell". And serious after I watched many Asadora shows, I have a much bigger respect for Japanese people.

[@arozade9192]

Japan also had 5 NCAA D1 players this past season.

[@tnsle000]

they are on their way to be the #1 team in Asia

[@nagi6601]

2023-24 ・Keisei Tominaga(Nebraska／senior) ・Yuto Yamanouchi-Williams(Portland／sophomore) ・Ibu Yamazaki(Radford／sophomore／injured) ・Bruce Kanno(Stetson／sophomore) ・Taku Youngblood(Gardner-Webb／sophomore) ・Akira Jacobs(Hawaii／freshman) ・Keshawn McNeill(St.Francis(PA)／freshman)

[@nagi6601]

2024-25 freshman ・Luka Toews(Boston College) ・Lawrence Yasuo Rudolph(CSU Fullerton) ・Jesse Yoshi Nimmo(Arkansas) ・Roy Igwe(Hawaii) ・Yuto Kawashima(NBA Global Acadamy(🇦🇺)→？？？)

[@Kaigaitobo]

This video is really accurate! Basketball in Japan is really getting exciting lately

[@tizioacaso5460]

please as an italian you should cover our terrible situation with basketball in both LBA and Italbasket

[@user-xl7hp8bi6x]

Same with PBA Philippines, it's way terrible than u think.

[@kostasoly9318]

Why terrible?LBA was the best in Europe in 80s..but Siena,Roma,Fortitudo are missing...

[@user-xl7hp8bi6x]

@@kostasoly9318 yeah, it's even better than the local league here in the Philippines. Local professional league here is abysmal

[@athenstar10]

As a Filipino, I initially thought that going to Japan was quite a downgrade for our top players since the top pleague few years ago was CBA, or in FIBA terms, NBL but I was wrong. In a span of few years JBL seem better than CBA and possibly getting better than NBL. I noticed that some top guys in NBL struggle in playing in JBL.

[@ThatNBAguy123]

50% female fans is important than people think. Sports are traditionally a male thing so to see basketball being loved by women as big time. Every basketball league in the world should strive for that split.

[@8teenOfficial]

You can also relate it to the good looking players in the league as well, asian or international, Dwight Ramos as an example.

[@Yautah]

women seem pretty involved in Japanese sports, there's a lot of women fans of football too(maybe because the women's team is usually very good).

[@gambitacio]

Why? Why must you force a split on everything? If women are allowed their own entertainment places, then men should too. It’s also a men’s thing for a reason. Stop pushing all that diversity crap or should we force airplane crashes to be 50-50 too?

[@eliporter3980]

Even though I've never played against a Japanese player, when I was younger we played against some Filipino missionaries that were visiting the US and man they COOKED us. We had no clue that basketball was huge in the Philippines and Asia in general. Glad to see the game is growing globally.

[@Primo_Kpodo]

Do one about BAL (basketball Africa league)

[@ElDiabeto]

That's truly something amazing they did with that, a lot of potential to be made

[@DeeDeeCHAUNCEY]

I want to see that vid

[@joshuaericsantos3552]

I believe you guys are the future of basketball.

[@jamesevangelista6460]

It’s amazing how they grew in just a span of 5 years

[@HUNKmelon]

When I watched European basketball leagues, I thought there were more men. But Japanese B-League, there are more women than men. Therefore, there is an atmosphere where people who do not know much about basketball can easily come and watch the games.

[@kurosan0079]

I've been watching some games (they're streaming all b1 playoff games on youtube, btw), and it's really surprising how packed the arenas are. They're not huge arenas, mind you, but the atmosphere it brings makes every game feel huge.

[@thomascamus3136]

As a Filipino, this is a two edged sword. B league has been a great platform and probably the greatest thing that could happen for our local players.They play in a much better competition which they translate in the national team and at the same time getting paid really well. Second is that, this pains many Filipino fans that we could only wish we have the same leaderships and innovations as the Japanese have. The B league hasn't been existing for 10 years yet they already had a major breakthrough by qualifying for the Olympics. They might even produce Japanese players in the NBA way faster than the Philippines. Basketball leaders and the system here in the Philippines are so incompetent, corrupt and rotten a that it's laughable that how can a country who is sitting in a basketball gold mine yet they can't even put an organized and "moral" system for it. The professional league here will celebrate its 50th year yet nothing has changed ever since it was founded except for its obvious incompetency and decline. By the way, Indonesia has actually taken the Japan B league model. Watch out for that country because they'll be coming for that Philippine "dominance" in the region.

[@tnsle000]

not to mention Philippine style of basketball is OUTDATED.

[@theblock4945]

Does PBA officials know how to use the INTERNET??!! like how can't they see other nations' growth and innovations such as these! are they blind or what?! or are just incompetent as they say. 🤷‍♀️ as a fan of the game, I'm truly jealous of other countries put an effort into their leagues. Taiwan, Indonesia Japan, etc...

[@thomascamus3136]

@@theblock4945 Wala lang talaga silang paki alam. As long kasi na may nanunood pa, ganyan at ganyan na lang yan. Kung i cacall out mo sila lalo na ung mga nasa circle ng PBA like Quinito Henson, i dedeny na pa yang kabalastugan sa liga to the extent na pag tatakwil ka nila nyan. "Edi wag kang manood. Dun ka sa MPBL o volleyball. Di ka kawalan." Mga ganyan ung mga linya nila.

[@draspen]

Why do Filipinos always have to introduce themselves first by saying "as a Filipino"? Pretty much everywhere I go on the internet.

[@theblock4945]

@draspen let's change it to "me, filipino," then..

[@BBallRambles]

I love the B league. I’ve been following it for a couple years now.

[@jekufo]

Wasn't expecting B.League coverage, very nice!

[@ian2008931]

When I visit Japan I am watching a B.League game!

[@BoccaBeats]

"Get ready to learn japanese buddy" 😭

[@mew-wem9071]

3:06 D.J. Newbill is one of the best players in B.League in Japan!

[@high-defRJ]

I live in Japan, haven't had the chance to see it live in person, but have seen several games on TV. But there seems to be an NCAA basketball type of atmosphere, while having the entertainment like the NBA. With the players also being fundamentally sound (to which maybe one of the reasons why Japan's women's and mens basketball teams had success in Olympics and in FIBA World Cup), it's definitely worthy to watch, TV or in person, as I would hope to get some tickets to see the games next season. And it also helps that Slam Dunk, the iconic sports manga/anime considered one of the best of all time, had the movie come out in December of 2022. It has a cult-like following in Asia, and a great storyline that can make you cry.

[@snz844]

Thank you for sharing

[@CommentOfficerNeo]

japan sports events are booming, baseball, volleyball, rugby, football and now basketball. japan no. 1!

[@DelapazTotong]

In football not really.Iran,Iraq and Jordan beats it

[@console6010]

me watching kai sotto play: i need that, we need that -pep guardiola

[@Kazbasketball]

Japan going up, 💯, rest of the Asian leagues are struggling…

[@ian2008931]

I love the Japanese B.League it's a different brand of basketball. It's like NBA is double-dutch ice cream, and it's wonderful and great and you love it but there's also mango ice cream which is also awesome.

[@tnsle000]

Japan basketball is really on the rise!

[@AlextremECW2]

For me the break up moment for Japanese basketball was the 3rd Window Qualifiers for the 2019 world cup, especially that game Against Australia when they had a record 0-4, with a young Hachimura and Watanabe, Wins o go home game. Giving to Australia their first L since they are on FIBA Asia and then winning their remaining 8 matches qualifying for the world cup. A movie narrative 🤣🤣

[@rommelreal9114]

On the other end, you need to make a video about the decline of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the oldest pro basketball league on Asia. That would be fun.

[@davibaby89]

As a basketball fan and bartender, I often get off late from work and watch some Japanese games. Sometimes German games in the afternoon too. Growing leagues around the world. France wants it. Brazil wants it. Even teams in the Middle East. It's awesome.

[@kokoy0971]

I hope that the MPBL could experience this level of growth soon😀

[@tnsle000]

doubt that

[@kokoy0971]

@@tnsle000 Yeah manny and the other stakeholders need to take their boomer hats off first

[@jrmayun]

Sa dami ng bentahan dyan, doubtful. Ang dami na ngang nahuli pero sige pa rin 😅.

[@akanekitaouji3415]

please make a documentary about the strange rules and degrading situation PBA

[@ThePhatFilosopher]

She said “he makes it in his eye”!!🤣😂😭😭 2:10

[@paulsaberon2703]

basket news, you should make a documentary about the PBA. the oldest league in Asia but its a trash league now since how its handled. one of it is having a height restriction for a playing import. one owner has 3 teams in which they can manipulate trades to power their number one team. etc

[@ninogagliardini5674]

Dayum Japan already had better arenas than France 😢 fuck it we suck...

[@alfa9102]

Yeah agreed but are thé better than us? 🤔

[@ninogagliardini5674]

@@alfa9102 nah obviously not

[@henningts]

I knew about it. I live here since many years and saw several games live. I even know some bleague players in personal ( also Japanese national team players) cause many started playing at a big outdoor park in Tokyo. Atmosphere at the games are really nice, strange though that the majority of fans in the stands are children ( majority girls ) and woman . Still nice !

[@kehlark996]

Back then,every Filipino kid's dream was to play in PBA now its BLeague 😂

[@MarioFrancisco-ec4dw]

A very good product, with free games here in KZbin for intenational audience

[@GameplayTubeYT]

Japan really serious to grow their Basketball League to produce a Talent that can compete in World Cup!

[@SkippyJr_xBee]

I recently got into B League, it's pretty entertaining.

[@johndavis6719]

I need to watch some games sounds interesting.

[@nimaiiikun]

im glad Japan had enough sense to ditch the BJ League name.

[@johnalexisbunyi1578]

Next thing. The dying philippine basketball association or mainly the different domestic leagues in the philippines. I wanna know if it will affect the philippines status in fiba.

[@kennethyu6041]

i hope FIBA intervenes here in the Philippines like how they intervened in japan. Like when they gave them an ultimatum if they wont fix their league they will be terminated, I hope the same thing happens here in the PH so if PBA doesn't comply there is now a valid termination notice.

[@foualter102]

B league is also the top destination of Filipino basketball.players as they can develop their skills better there.

[@das0ul177]

Filipino are my favourite ppl to play basketball w Auckland nz is starting to get a huge population of Filipinos and they are fkn awesome to play ball w

[@kevindalemartinez1355]

Japan Basketball League is growing faster and much bigger market across ASIAN Basketball League opposite to Philippine Basketball Association its sucks and awful

[@C-Thunder]

I thought this dude was going to talk about the T-1 league. The B League has caught my interest though!

[@ThePrimeYeeter]

Look at Japanese basketball, slowly on the rise, while Philippine basketball, is slowly falling down due to awful management

[@Von199X]

They're very organized and there is always a hierachy involved.

[@gabepizza]

11th place?! If they were 11th place they would have advanced to the 2nd round. Try 19th place

[@bolsbolbol368]

Women's Volleyball is more popular than basketball in the Philippines right now.

[@jamavra]

No. Basketball is default sport for many. The terrible league doesn't wipe away basketball being #1.

[@realtalk6195]

Japan has grown tremendously in rugby union as well. That makes two sports that Japan is doing much better than South Korea. In fact, Taiwan will become much better than South Korean in basketball too. The sport is huge there.

[@Srt3D01-db-01]

What. Out for japan... once they put an eye into one sport they dominate after some years ( look at the little leagues , or how they won germany at the world cup, etc) so, basically in some years either the league will start pulling very competitive players

[@sjc4]

A lot safer than playing in China, I see why international players would choose it over others if the pay was similar

[@2amthoughts242]

most Filipino imports benefited in playing in b.league... though there are some notable ones that did not succeed.

[@mountainman077]

while the league in the philippines (pba) stick to their old ways and refuse to embrace change. Only focusing on the business side which hurts the development of our players.

[@ergindemir7366]

I wonder why Watanabe doesn't play in Euroleague.

[@baskingbal1]

He had an interview where he talked about the extreme homesickness he felt living internationally. The NBA had been his dream his whole life, so he made a promise to himself to stick it out until he turned 30. Next season he'll be 30, so he just wants to go back home. I honestly feel like he'd get paid more in the B League too.

[@ctsa028]

​@@baskingbal1TLDR he wants to go home

[@bnb6868]

He can make way more money in the b league as a native star as well as living in his home country not needing to learn a new language and customs.

[@jamavra]

Not only that he will for sure receive a lot of other marketing and endorsements. He is a NBA player. He's gonna be the highest profile local player in the league. Perhaps one day he'll even be president of the league

[@panther189_]

Cingular wireless basketball logo? 😂

[@AlextremECW2]

The basketball is growing incredible fast on many countries East-ASIA in the last 8 years!. The b-league, Taiwanese League, Indonesia leagues, and many others... It wouldn't be a surprise if in 20 years that region becomes the epicenter of the World Basketball.

[@yungbraveheart103]

Bro its from slam dunk series lol

[@EvilKicksMoney]

Cricket is fastest growing sport in Japan

[@und3rcut535]

Japan always plays tacticaly advanced i every sport. maybe they do not have the athleticism that much but they always play very advanced schemes.

[@user-xl7hp8bi6x]

San En NeoPhoenix all the wayy!!

[@okwaleedpoetry]

tell the b league put me in the game

[@innoc3ntbystndr]

Relegation should be adopted by the NBA. NBA and the euro league should merge and create a real “global” league.

[@corey2232]

Oh no... If Japanese kids start pursuing basketball, you know insane coaches & basketball drill sergeants won't be far behind 😅

[@kennethyu6041]

Can you guys do an analysis on the decline and downfall of Asia's oldest league? Its so laughable that every Filipino except Ginebra fans really will celebrate its downfall. It's just a great topic on how a basketball driven country badly wants to abolish its main basketball league.

[@sheesh6471]

PBA could never

[@hufinnpuff3068]

Can someone explain why FIBA has a say on how JBA should run their organization?

[@HUNKmelon]

There were two leagues in the country. FIBA wanted to have only one league per country. Incidentally, the same person founded both the J-League, Japan's soccer leagues, and the B.League. He integrated the leagues in 8 months, which the JBA could not do for years. He asked Japan's then second richest man to invest in the League.

[@hairypotter259]

I wonder if a relegation system would boost competitiveness in the nba

[@thomascamus3136]

Nah. Make their player contracts non-guaranteed like the NFL. I bet you Ben Simmons and 50% of the NBA would play 82 games even with a broken back.

[@bossg2817]

Meanwhile there is PBA an archaic league 😒

[@Chavanun555]

They are still not beating Eur teams in the Olympics though😅😅

[@j.r.h.9265]

Japan beat Markkanen-led Finland team.

[@Chavanun555]

@@j.r.h.9265 lol sure Finland. I was talking about stuff Like France, Spain, Germany, Latvia, the actual cream of the crop teams that actually have good basketball league and went deep in the Olympics and Fiba but yeah beating Lauri lead team is also good

[@HUNKmelon]

@@Chavanun555まだ設立してから8年なんだから長い目で見てくれ😂

[@Chavanun555]

@@HUNKmelon nihonjin is here lol. Koroko no basket. Slam Dunk Lets gooo

[@HUNKmelon]

@@Chavanun555 何言ってるの？ママの元に帰った方がいい

[@jaytorr6701]

Why is Bobby Lee in the thumbnail?

[@ola4339]

They are all Bobby Lees 😅

[@AMACHiiBiong]

💀 that’s Yuta Tabuse

[@Kaio_INCEL]

Cool

[@HUNKmelon]

Is the league in the Philippines terrible lol ?

[@kennethyu6041]

Terrible is an understatement just so you know. ITs beyond awful

[@HUNKmelon]

@@kennethyu6041 Wouldn't your country also need to develop your economy as a country just to have investment come to pba in the first place? In the case of Japan, the first priority was to generate revenue as a league rather than to increase competitiveness. As a result, the money earned can be used to pay players' salaries, personnel costs, or arena construction costs, and generate even greater profits.

[@Twello4president]

Also kuroko no basket is a really good anime so I’m sure the kids also want imitate what they see in the show

[@hyjinks1]

Slam Dunk is the more iconic basketball anime in Japan for sure

[@hanli5416]

Lol if they tried that, japan would sink basketball skill wise as the anime skills are kinda like inazuma eleven skills. Personally i would not expect too much change or movement based of anime or manga really for basketball anymore. They allready had best basketball manga anime ever a couple of decades ago with slam dunk. For many still best sports manga anime ever that showed you realistic basketball and skills.

[@hanli5416]

@@hyjinks1 this is most definitely true for real basketball fans, i admit young kids (especially younger than six) however might look slightly differently at it

[@kawaiipotatoes7888]

Kuroko is unrealistic af it is slam dunk who introduce basic basketball concepts to the Japanese. The mangaka even put a scholarship for the best Japanese highschool player to study and play in american colleges. Without him watanabe is hachimura would be baseball players.

[@theblock4945]

CALLING PBA!

[@ronjie]

Lol. LeFlop’s handshake with Rui uses a Thai gesture

[@user-rd3bv7qu3i]

Jnba average high is 4"9.

[@raulgoncalvesosman9217]

THE PBA Philippines basketball association succc awful, empty arena,no excitement, the weakest competition in asia no fans engagement whatsoever.indonesia basketball league (ibl) is 10 times better than pba from the competition and fans engagement and plus they have home and away format

[@germanjesus392]

It would be to easy for nba players and not everyone gonna go and so i dont really care but also they kinda just copied the nba

[@caparaschristian7813]

Pls.make Philippine basketball association. Hahah it's the opposite of b league most disappointing league

[@mkzzzzzzzzzz1]

high energy league, but very awful play. out of the 49k people who watched this video, maybe 5 have watched a full game of the japanese league, myself included. the league is awful. BAD, BAD.

[@kevlark3184]

The NBA players are still better at playing victim. Watch a game.

[@imapotato2990]

just relying on Filipinos hahahhahahahhahahaa

[@aditditditdit]

and what's even crazier is football, volleyball, rugby and basketball, which incidentally are not Japanese people's favorite sports but all of them have qualified for the Olympics and their popularity is increasing as the population decreases

[@Cooe.]

0:27 🤦 Baseball is way, WAAAAAAAAAAAY more popular than football in Japan! Like they're not even close!

[@atingsipnayin5518]

PBA could never