DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - No team from Chinese Taipei has been able to bring home a medal, let alone the championship, from Asia's most prestigious club competition in over four decades.
That's why expectations are high on Taoyuan Pauian in the upcoming Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) 2025, as hopes of ending that long of a wait are pinned on this rising regional power.
Qualifying path
The Pilots are flying to Dubai big thanks to a remarkable run in the recently concluded BCL Asia-East 2025.
There, the team of Coach Iurgi Caminos swept the Group Phase by winning all of their six games in Group A, thus entering as the top seed of the pool to the culminating Final 4 held on May 30-31 in Mongolia.
Taoyuan made sure not to waste that hot streak, beating the New Taipei Kings in an all- Chinese Taipei bout convincingly, 81-62, to reach the Final and, more importantly, seal their place in this year's BCL Asia.
Their bid of bringing home the championship, though, got foiled by hosts Ulaanbaatar Xac Broncos in the end. But that hardly mattered anymore as they met the goal of qualifying for the June 7-13 showpiece.
BCL Asia history
Not only did they ensure the return of Chinese Taipei in this big of a stage but the Pilots themselves accomplished a quite personal goal: coming to the tournament erstwhile known as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup.
The club has already played in the Champions Cup twice while carrying the Pauian banner, with their last stint in 2018 in Thailand where they finished sixth in the meet won by Iran's Petrochimi.
Major changes would then take place within the organization. In 2020, the team opted to split the team into two, one of which joined the P. League+ (PLG) following the latter's establishment in that same year.
A few rebrands later and they'd become known as the Pilots we know today, boasting of a solid resume whose biggest achievement to date is winning the 2024-25 PLG championship just last May.
Will a BCL Asia medal be next? That's what many of their fans are hoping for, definitely.
The last time a team from Chinese Taipei did as much was in 1984, when Kuang Hua snared the bronze in the tourney held in Malaysia. It remains as Chinese Taipei's lone medal in the competition.
Players to watch
With that, expect Taoyuan's big guns to deliver the goods, led by Lu Chun-Hsiang. The 2025 PLG Finals MVP was one of their heavy hitters with averages of 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in the BCL Asia-East.
Serving as their top scorer was Alec Brown as the sweet-shooting big man showed elite accuracy on his way to finishing the recent contest with per-game norms of 18.2 points alongside 8.5 rebounds.
But make no mistake about thinking that this is a two-man show. There are still the other solid reinforcements in Julian Boyd (15.8 points, 10.5 rebounds) as well as Jarrod Jones (16.7 points, 9.6 rebounds).
Then there's also the local crew, with Li Chia-Kang and Chen Li-Sheng helping out in leading the way.
FIBA