BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Last season's disappointing end to their Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia) dreams should be more than enough to motivate the New Taipei Kings in bid to get it done this time.
One of the two Chinese Taipei representatives will be among the seven teams competing in the upcoming BCL Asia-East 2026, hoping to finish their story successfully after falling just short in the previous edition.
BCL Asia-East history
The Kings were actually one of the favorites in last year's tilt and needed just one win to qualify for the continent's highest club competition, but their aspirations got crushed by their very own compatriots in the Final 4.
Coach Ryan Marchand & Co. got beaten badly by the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, 81-62, and eventually settled for fourth place in the pan-regional conclave after bowing to Indonesian Basketball League outfit Pelita Jaya.
It definitely couldn't get any tougher for New Taipei after finishing the Group Phase as the no. 2 seed in Group B with a 4-2 record. Including their Final 4 run, the team finished the tourney with three straight losses.
Qualifying path
But the Kings have earned themselves a chance to atone for that by succeeding at home, particularly by emerging as champions of the 2024-25 TPBL season after beating the Kaohsiung Aquas in the best-of-7 Finals.
It was by no means an easy path to the crown as the protagonists alternated wins in the series, but New Taipei just couldn't be stopped in Game 7 as they roared to a big lead early for the eventual 108-89 victory.
They then became the league's inaugural champions, indeed a perfect way to cap off what was a dominant campaign for the crew, which began with a 26-10 record to finish as the regular season's best team.
The Kings would carry over their solid form come the Semi-Finals by sweeping the Taipei Taishin Mars, 4-0, then came the classic title bout which they ultimately won, in the process earning a return trip to BCL Asia-East.
Players to watch
Expect most of the players from last season to run it back this time, with former P.League + Finals MVP Lee Kai-Yan leading the charge along with elite reinforcements, bannered by the towering Jason Washburn.
But of course, there'd also be new faces which fans and observers alike could expect such as Jalen Harris, who signed with New Taipei just last November and has since been solid - both in the TPBL and the EASL.
If his name rings a bell, that's because he's the very same player who has been starring for Jordan in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers, highlighted by a 42-point eruption back in Window 1.
Some are also curious to see if the Kings would finally be parading Joe Lin, who's cleared to play as a local in FIBA play, leading to his inclusion to the Chinese Taipei men's program in the ongoing World Cup Qualifiers.
These men played in the ongoing 2026 EASL Finals and they're surely coming into the BCL Asia qualifiers motivated, as their bid for glory in the former got spoiled by Utsunomiya Brex in the Quarter-Finals.
The New Taipei Kings are drawn in Group B of the BCL Asia-East 2026 together with the Pilots, South China AA, and defending champions XAC Broncos. To know more about their upcoming campaign, click here.
FIBA