# EASL Champions Week

The EASL Champions Week was a pre-season tournament of the East Asia Super League, an international basketball club competition involving teams from domestic leagues in Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Taiwan, as well as a franchise team representing Greater China. The Champions Week was held from 1 to 5 March 2023.
The Champions Week was conceptualized after the regular season was postponed. The regular season was originally scheduled to be held from 12 October 2022 to February 2023, under a home and away format and a Final Four knockout stage.
The winners received USD 250,000, while the runners-up and third-place teams received USD 100,000 and USD 50,000, respectively.

## Team allocation

The eight teams which qualified for the then-2022–23 EASL season qualified for the Champions Week. Four leagues are represented for the 2023 EASL. The champions and runners-up of the Japan B.League and the Korean Basketball League as well as the champions of Taiwan's P. League+ Hong Kong based Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, a franchise team not part of any domestic league also participated. The league considers the P. League+ champions and the Phoenixes as representatives of "Greater China". For the Philippines, the top two finishing teams of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup qualified.
| League | Country or region | Berths |
| EASL (franchise team) | Hong Kong | 1 |
| P. League+ | Chinese Taipei | 1 |
| B.League | Japan | 2 |
| Korean Basketball League | South Korea | 2 |
| Philippine Basketball Association | Philippines | 2 |

### Qualified teams

| Team | Domestic league standing |
| Bay Area Dragons | N/A (EASL franchise) |
| Taipei Fubon Braves | 2021–22 P. League+ champions |
| Utsunomiya Brex | 2021–22 B.League champions |
| Ryukyu Golden Kings | 2021–22 B.League runners-up |
| Seoul SK Knights | 2021–22 Korean Basketball League champions |
| Anyang KGC | 2021–22 Korean Basketball League runners-up |
| San Miguel Beermen | 2022 PBA Philippine Cup champions |
| TNT Tropang Giga | 2022 PBA Philippine Cup runners-up |

### Imports

Each team can select two foreigners into active roster in each game, plus an Asian heritage import or naturalized player.
| Team | Foreigner | Foreigner | Foreigner | Heritage player |
| Bay Area Dragons | Andrew Nicholson | Myles Powell | — | Sedrick Barefield |
| Taipei Fubon Braves | Ihor Zaytsev | Mike Singletary | Chris Johnson | — |
| Utsunomiya Brex | Grant Jerrett | Josh Scott | — | Yang Jae-min |
| Ryukyu Golden Kings | Allen Durham | Jack Cooley | — | Carl Tamayo |
| Seoul SK Knights | Leon Williams | Jameel Warney | — | — |
| Anyang KGC | Omari Spellman | Darryl Monroe | — | Rhenz Abando |
| San Miguel Beermen | Cameron Clark | Jessie Govan | — | — |
| TNT Tropang Giga | Jalen Hudson | Daniel Ochefu | — | — |

## Venues

Games were held in Japan, on the home venues of the two qualified Japanese teams – Utsunomiya Brex and the Ryukyu Golden Kings. There were ten games in total. Utsunomiya hosted six of the eight group stage games, while Ryukyu hosted the remaining two games, as well as the third place game and final.
| Okinawa City | Utsunomiya | OkinawaNikkanEASL Champions Week (Japan) |
| Okinawa Arena | Nikkan Arena Tochigi | OkinawaNikkanEASL Champions Week (Japan) |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 5,000 | OkinawaNikkanEASL Champions Week (Japan) |

## Draw

The official draw for the 2022–23 EASL season was held on 28 June 2022 at the Shangri-La at the Fort, Manila in Taguig. For the Champions Week the groupings were retained.
The teams were drawn in two groups. A coin flipping mechanic was used; each champion in each domestic league was to choose a coin side. The winner of the coin flip was placed on Group A while the other placed in Group B. The identity of the Philippine representatives were yet to be determined at the time of the draw.
Another draw was held to determine the schedule of the games.

## Group stage

On 10 January 2023, EASL released the full schedule for the tournament. Each team in each of the two groups would face only two of three of the other teams in their group unlike in a traditional round robin format.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Anyang KGC | 2 | 2 | 0 | 236 | 156 | +80 | 4 | Final |
| 2 | Ryukyu Golden Kings | 2 | 2 | 0 | 179 | 146 | +33 | 4 | Third place game |
| 3 | Taipei Fubon Braves | 2 | 0 | 2 | 147 | 177 | −30 | 2 | |
| 4 | San Miguel Beermen | 2 | 0 | 2 | 155 | 238 | −83 | 2 | |
* ↑ Taiwan, officially Republic of China. The organizers of the EASL and FIBA uses the designation of "Chinese Taipei".
* 1 2 Anyang KGC +80 PD, Ryukyu Golden Kings +33 PD.
* 1 March 2023 17:00
* Box score
| Taipei Fubon Braves | 69–94 | Anyang KGC |
| Scoring by quarter: 19–24, 17–25, 21–22, 12–23 |||
| Pts: Zaytsev 20 Rebs: Singletary 15 Asts: Singletary 6 | | Pts: Spellman 22 Rebs: Monroe 25 Asts: Monroe 7 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya
* 2 March 2023 19:30
* Box score
| Ryukyu Golden Kings | 96–68 | San Miguel Beermen |
| Scoring by quarter: 24–17, 25–11, 21–20, 26–20 |||
| Pts: Cooley, Imamura 20 Rebs: Cooley, Durham 16 Asts: Durham 7 | | Pts: Clark 25 Rebs: Tautuaa 10 Asts: Enciso 6 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya
* 4 March 2023 16:00
* Box score
| Anyang KGC | 142–87 | San Miguel Beermen |
| Scoring by quarter: 40–20, 29–16, 40–29, 33–22 |||
| Pts: Spellman 53 Rebs: Monroe 17 Asts: Monroe 14 | | Pts: Clark 35 Rebs: Clark 10 Asts: Perez 5 |
* Okinawa Arena, Okinawa City
* 4 March 2023 19:00
* Box score
| Ryukyu Golden Kings | 83–78 | Taipei Fubon Braves |
| Scoring by quarter: 20–20, 25–25, 23–8, 15–25 |||
| Pts: Cooley 24 Rebs: Cooley 13 Asts: Kishimoto 7 | | Pts: Johnson 28 Rebs: Johnson 9 Asts: Chou, Zaytsev 4 |
* Okinawa Arena, Okinawa City

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Seoul SK Knights | 2 | 2 | 0 | 172 | 153 | +19 | 4 | Final |
| 2 | Bay Area Dragons | 2 | 1 | 1 | 180 | 182 | −2 | 3 | Third place game |
| 3 | Utsunomiya Brex | 2 | 1 | 1 | 189 | 162 | +27 | 3 | |
| 4 | TNT Tropang Giga | 2 | 0 | 2 | 135 | 179 | −44 | 2 | |
* 1 2 Bay Area Dragons 1–0 Utsunomiya Brex
* 1 March 2023 19:30
* Box score
| Utsunomiya Brex | 99–66 | TNT Tropang Giga |
| Scoring by quarter: 25–26, 32–8, 22–21, 20–11 |||
| Pts: Scott 24 Rebs: Scott 14 Asts: Hiejima 6 | | Pts: Hudson 28 Rebs: Ochefu 9 Asts: Oftana 3 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya
* 2 March 2023 17:00
* Box score
| Seoul SK Knights | 92–84 | Bay Area Dragons |
| Scoring by quarter: 18–20, 24–27, 22–20, 28–17 |||
| Pts: Warney 30 Rebs: Warney 19 Asts: Kim, Warney 7 | | Pts: Nicholson 35 Rebs: Nicholson 15 Asts: Powell 8 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya
* 3 March 2023 17:00
* Box score
| TNT Tropang Giga | 69–80 | Seoul SK Knights |
| Scoring by quarter: 28–25, 14–16, 13–16, 14–23 |||
| Pts: Oftana 16 Rebs: Ochefu 12 Asts: M. Williams 4 | | Pts: Kim, Warney 21 Rebs: Williams 21 Asts: Warney 11 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya
* 3 March 2023 19:30
* Box score
| Utsunomiya Brex | 90–96 | Bay Area Dragons |
| Scoring by quarter: 17–23, 32–24, 16–26, 25–23 |||
| Pts: Jerrett 22 Rebs: Scott 12 Asts: Hiejima 7 | | Pts: Nicholson 26 Rebs: Nicholson 12 Asts: Powell 10 |
* Nikkan Arena Tochigi, Utsunomiya

## Final round
### Third place game

* 5 March 2023 16:00
* Box score
| Ryukyu Golden Kings | 70–90 | Bay Area Dragons |
| Scoring by quarter: 14–16, 14–28, 23–30, 19–16 |||
| Pts: Durham 19 Rebs: Watanabe 8 Asts: Flippin 5 | | Pts: Powell 29 Rebs: Nicholson 8 Asts: Yang 5 |
* Okinawa Arena, Okinawa City

### Final

* 5 March 2023 19:00
* Box score
| Anyang KGC | 90–84 | Seoul SK Knights |
| Scoring by quarter: 25–27, 24–10, 17–24, 24–23 |||
| Pts: Monroe 21 Rebs: Monroe 16 Asts: Byeon, Monroe 5 | | Pts: Kim 25 Rebs: Williams 10 Asts: Kim, Oh 6 |
* Okinawa Arena, Okinawa City