Soon, the world will know about the East Asia Super League.

The rapidly growing league across East Asia is set to have its biggest event yet: the EASL Final Four happening March 8-10 in Cebu, Philippines.

Dubbed the "Champions League" of East Asian basketball, the EASL combines the best clubs from the top leagues in East Asia with elite production value. The teams in the Final Four are Korea’s Seoul SK Knights and Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters, Taiwan’s New Taipei Kings, and Japan’s Chiba Jets. The Red Boosters come in as the defending champions following their win over their Korean neighbors, SK Knights, in last year’s inaugural championship in Japan. 

EASL’s vision is to become one of the world’s top professional basketball leagues. At the same time, EASL aims to elevate the sport of basketball across the East Asia region. 

But what makes the league different is the style of play and the brand of basketball each team employs. While leagues like the NBA lean on athleticism, teams in the EASL use a lot of running and transition as well as relying on spacing.

“Our play style is fast, and pretty open court. We use dynamic guards a lot and rely on spacing,” New Taipei Kings’ Joseph Lin told BasketballNews in the opening press conference of the league’s Final Four tournament.

The 6-foot-1 Lin, the brother of former NBA player and champion Jeremy Lin, will attempt to bring the title to Taiwan as they go up against the Chiba Jets in the semifinals.

Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters’ Filipino import Rhenz Abando echoed the younger Lin’s sentiments as he came home to play in front of Filipino fans in Cebu: “[Our play style] is also the same with Taipei, we are also fast and have a lot of ball movement and spacing.”

Going up against Abando and the Red Boosters are the SK Knights in a rematch of last year’s finals matchup. Star player Oh Jae Hyun reflects the opinions of the basketball played in the EASL. 

“Our team’s main strength is fast-paced basketball, which requires rebounding and pressing the defense so we can force turnovers and push it on the other side,” Hyun added.

Aside from Lin, a number former NBA players have played in the EASL including Lance Stephenson (Liaoning Flying Leopards), Shabazz Muhammad (Shenzhen Leopards), KJ McDaniels (TNT KaTropa), Jared Sullinger (Shenzhen Aviators), Jameel Warney (Seoul SK Knights) and Domantas Motiejunas (Shandong Golden Stars). Austin Daye, a 2014 NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, is a teammate to Lin on New Taipei.

With the league’s Final Four event aiming to have massive success in the Philippines, EASL CEO Henry Kerins is optimistic that the EASL will grow even more and increase the number of teams soon.

“Our ambition is to expand from eight teams to 16 teams and that will include new geographies and new clubs,” Kerins shared. “Obviously, there’s a huge amount of development and expansion for us to do and that’s where the top basketball talent is right now – Asia.”

Kerins further noted that this is only the start for EASL as it looks to increase its global market and viewership in the coming months and years. 

“Our focus right now is developing and expanding that and deepening both our penetration on the media partnerships. This is the beginning, and in 2025 you’re going to see a much more mature and aggressive strategy for expanding that," Kerins said. "We will be expanding our presence and that will lead to more clubs participating – so hold for that in terms of our announcements but that’s our vision and plan going forward.”