Hong Kong Eastern is set to make its Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) debut on Wednesday when it takes on the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters in the 49th Commissioner’s Cup as a foreign guest team. 

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The Commissioner's Cup is one of three PBA conferences, held during the midway point of each season. Now featuring 13 teams this year — with the addition of Eastern — each team plays against every other team once in a round-robin format. The eight teams with the best win-loss records move on to the playoffs — divided into quarterfinal, semifinals and finals stages — while the rest are eliminated. 

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In the Commissioner's Cup quarterfinals, depending on each side’s seeding within their respective matchups, the number of games in a playoff series varies. Lower seeds must win two games in a best-of-three series. Higher seeds go through to the semifinals by winning the first game of the series. 

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The semifinals are a best-of-five series and the finals are a best-of-seven series. 

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Another rule in the Commissioner's Cup is that each team is allowed only one import player. For Hong Kong, which usually fields two imports — Chris McLaughlin and Cameron Clark — the team must decide which one will play in each game. 

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Despite having to limit its roster by playing only one import, the team enters its first-ever Commissioner’s Cup with plenty of experience. Clark is a former two-time semifinalist in the PBA’s Governor’s Cup, playing for the NLEX Road Warriors (2022) and San Miguel Beermen (2023). Meanwhile, guards Kobey Lam and Glen Yang reached the 47th Commissioner’s Cup Finals with the now-defunct Bay Area Dragons in 2022 before losing in seven games to Barangay Ginebra. 

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Following its PBA debut, Eastern is scheduled to play a handful of Commissioner's Cup games before returning to East Asia Super League action on Dec. 18 against the San Miguel Beermen. Hong Kong currently sits in last place in Group A after consecutive losses to defending B.LEAGUE champions, the Hiroshima Dragonflies.  

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Tip-off for Hong Kong’s contest versus the Fuel Masters is slated for 7:30 p.m. PHT at PhilSports Arena. Tickets are available on Ticketnet Online. 

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