EASL has confirmed its three B.LEAGUE teams for the 2026-27 season. The Ryukyu Golden Kings, Nagasaki Velca and Alvark Tokyo make up the Japanese contingent, with Ryukyu and Nagasaki qualifying by advancing through their semifinal series to reach the Resona Group B.LEAGUE FINALS 2025-26. Alvark Tokyo earned its spot by winning the 2026 Emperor's Cup in January.

The three B.LEAGUE clubs join a field that already features Mongolia's Xac Broncos, Korea's Busan KCC Egis and Goyang Sono Skygunners, and the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots of Chinese Taipei's P. LEAGUE+, bringing the confirmed team count to seven with further qualifications still to come across the region.

EASL has taken the two B.LEAGUE finalists into its following season in each of its three home-and-away campaigns to date. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, EASL expanded its B.LEAGUE pipeline by also adding the reigning Emperor's Cup champion, or the runner-up if the champion advances to the B.LEAGUE Finals.

This will be the second straight season with three B.LEAGUE teams in the field, and a B.LEAGUE club has won the EASL championship in each of the league's three seasons to date. The return of three Japanese teams keeps the level of competition high heading into 2026-27, with every participant facing a strong field. The 2026-27 season will mark seven unique B.LEAGUE clubs to have featured in EASL across the league's four home-and-away seasons.

Ryukyu has qualified for its fourth straight EASL season after reaching its fifth consecutive B.LEAGUE Finals. No other team has appeared in all four EASL seasons to date, and the Golden Kings remain EASL's winningest club ever with 14 wins across three seasons. Ryukyu has consistently performed at the top of the field, most recently finishing third in the 2025-26 EASL season after defeating Alvark Tokyo in the third-place game in Macau SAR on March 22, the franchise's highest EASL finish to date. In the 2025-26 B.LEAGUE season, the Golden Kings posted a 42-18 record and defeated Seahorses Mikawa and the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins to reach the championship series.

The Nagasaki Velca have qualified for the 2026-27 EASL season, marking its debut in Asia's premier club basketball league. The Velca had a dominant qualification run, clinching the B.LEAGUE West Division title for the first time in franchise history. Nagasaki finished the B.LEAGUE regular season with a league-best 47-13 record and led the league in points per game (91.2), assists per game (23.2), steals per game (9.5) and three-point percentage (37.3%). The team then claimed its first postseason series wins in franchise history, knocking off Alvark Tokyo in the quarterfinals and the Chiba Jets in the semifinals to reach its first Resona Group B.LEAGUE FINALS 2025-26. The run caps a historic rise for a club founded in 2020 that won the B3 League in its debut season, finished as B2 League runners-up the following year, and earned promotion to B1 by the 2023-24 season.

Alvark Tokyo qualified for its second straight EASL season by winning the 2026 Emperor's Cup, defeating Seahorses Mikawa on January 12, 2026. The same qualification pathway applied for the 2025-26 EASL season, when Emperor's Cup champions Ryukyu Golden Kings qualified through the B.LEAGUE finalists rule. That passed the Emperor's Cup berth down to Alvark Tokyo, who had finished as runner-up in the competition. In its EASL debut last season, Alvark posted a 5-1 group stage record to earn the No. 1 overall seed in the largest postseason format in league history, ultimately finishing fourth in the EASL Finals.

The Resona Group B.LEAGUE FINALS 2025-26 between the Ryukyu Golden Kings and Nagasaki Velca tip off on Saturday, May 23 in a best-of-three series.