2024 MPBL season

6th season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League

Sports season

2024 MPBL season
League	MVP	Justine Baltazar (Pampanga)
MPBL seasons
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 MPBL season was the sixth season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and its third under professional status. The regular season began on April 6, 2024 with the opening ceremonies at the Calasiao Sports Complex in Calasiao, Pangasinan, and ended on October 1. The 2024 MPBL All-Star Game was held at the Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City on September 7. The playoffs began on October 5 and ended on December 7 with the 2024 MPBL finals between the Pampanga Giant Lanterns and Quezon Huskers.

This season featured 29 teams, with two expansion teams making their debut: the

Abra Weavers and the Pangasinan Heatwaves.^[1]

Team changes

Expansion and contraction

The MPBL introduced two new expansion teams this season, both based in

Abra Weavers and the Pangasinan Heatwaves.^[1] Abra became the first team based in the Cordillera Administrative Region while Pangasinan became the first in the Ilocos Region. This season would have seen a third expansion team, the Tarlac United Force,^[2] however the league pulled the team out after failing to comply with the league's financial obligations.^[3]

The

Pasig City MCW Sports, and the reigning South Division champion Bacoor City Strikers

all departed after four seasons in the league.

The two expansion teams (Abra and Pangasinan) were all placed in the North Division. Davao Occidental was placed back into the South Division together with the Parañaque Patriots. Due to Tarlac's withdrawal, the league remains at 29 teams, with the North Division having 14 teams and the South having 15.

Name changes

2023 team name	2024 team name(s)
Batangas City Embassy Chill	Batangas City Athletics (Invitational only) Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters
Bicol Volcanoes	Bicolandia Oragons
GenSan Warriors	South Cotabato Warriors
Imus SV Squad	Imus Agimat
Laguna Krah Asia	Biñan Tatak Gel
Manila Stars	Manila Batang Sampaloc
Mindoro Disiplinados	Mindoro Tamaraws
Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc.	Valenzuela Classic
Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines	Zamboanga Master Sardines

Regulation changes

Beginning with this season, the league has removed the ex-PBA player limit from its roster regulations, allowing teams to sign any number of fully professional players.^[1] The league was affected by the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) decision to no longer allow its Special Guest Licensees to play in professional leagues, which came into effect on June 1, 2024.^[4][5]

Transactions

Main article: List of 2024 MPBL season transactions

Coaching changes

Offseason

Team	Departing coach	Incoming coach
Abra Weavers	—	Jonathan Banal
Bacolod City of Smiles	Vincent Salvador	Alex Cabagnot
Bataan Risers	Alex Callueng	Rene Baena
Bicolandia Oragons	Jason Santiago	Raymond Valenzona
Biñan Tatak Gel	Nath Gregorio	Boyet Fernandez
Bulacan Kuyas	Joseph Mabagos	Jonathan Reyes
Caloocan Batang Kankaloo	Robert Sison	Alexander Angeles
Imus Agimat	Jinino Manansala	Jun Da Jose
Manila Batang Sampaloc	Bimbot Anquilo	Gabby Severino
Marikina Shoemasters	Elvis Tolentino	Rysal Castro
Mindoro Tamaraws	Jonathan Reyes	JR Cawaling
Muntinlupa Cagers	Aldrin Morante	Mixson Ramos
Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards	Jerson Cabiltes	Don Dulay
Pampanga Giant Lanterns	Dennis Pineda	Frederick Dimatulac
Pangasinan Heatwaves	—	Jerson Cabiltes
Rizal Golden Coolers	Jonathan Banal	Ralph Rivera
South Cotabato Warriors	Rich Alvarez	Elvis Tolentino

In season

Team	Departing coach	Incoming coach
Abra Weavers	Jonathan Banal	Yong Garcia
Bataan Risers	Rene Baena	Goody Ilagan
Imus Agimat	Jun Da Jose	Eric Sy
Iloilo United Royals	MC Abolucion	Japs Cuan
Manila Batang Sampaloc	Gabby Severino	Ariel Vanguardia

Playing venues

New venues for this season are indicated with bold text.

Regular venues

Bataan Risers		Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters
Bataan People's Center Balanga, Bataan	Orion Sports Complex Orion, Bataan	Batangas City Coliseum Batangas City, Batangas	FPJ Arena[6] San Jose, Batangas
Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 3,000

Biñan Tatak Gel	Caloocan Batang Kankaloo	Manila Batang Sampaloc
Biñan, Laguna	Caloocan Sports Complex Caloocan	Paco Arena Manila	San Andres Sports Complex Manila
Capacity: 6,500	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: 3,000

Mindoro Tamaraws	Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards	Pampanga Giant Lanterns
Pola Gymnasium[7] Pola, Oriental Mindoro	Nueva Ecija Coliseum Palayan, Nueva Ecija	AUF Sports and Cultural Center Angeles City	Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center San Fernando, Pampanga
Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 2,000	Capacity: 3,000

Pangasinan Heatwaves	Parañaque Patriots		Pasay Voyagers
Calasiao Sports Complex Calasiao, Pangasinan	Olivarez College (Olivarez College Gymnasium) Parañaque	Villar Coliseum[9] Las Piñas	Cuneta Astrodome Pasay
Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 3,500	Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 12,000

Quezon Huskers		Quezon City Toda Aksyon	Rizal Golden Coolers
Lucena Convention Center Lucena	Quezon Convention Center Lucena	Amoranto Arena Quezon City	Antipolo, Rizal
Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 7,000	Capacity: 3,500	Capacity: 7,400

San Juan Knights	Valenzuela Classic	Zamboanga Master Sardines
Filoil EcoOil Centre San Juan	WES Arena Valenzuela	Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum Zamboanga City
Capacity: 6,000	Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 12,000

Out-of-town venues

Abra Weavers
Bangued, Abra
Capacity: N/A

Other venues

Preseason Invitational	MPBL finals	Neutral venues
Lagao Gymnasium General Santos	Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall Dubai	Strike Gymnasium Bacoor, Cavite	Ynares Sports Arena Pasig
Capacity: 6,000	Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 1,500	Capacity: 3,000

Preseason

Main article: 2024 MPBL Preseason Invitational

The Preseason Invitational ran from February 21 to 27, 2024. Similar to the

South Cotabato Warriors in the final game, 93–75.^[11]

Regular season

Opening ceremony

Originally scheduled for March 16, 2024, this season's opening gameday was postponed twice. First by a week to March 23 and the second by another two weeks to April 6, the latter being due in part to the observance of Holy Week in the country during the week after March 23.^[12]

The opening ceremony took place at the Calasiao Sports Complex in

Abra Weavers

, winning the Best Muse award.

The first game saw the

Northern Luzon expansion teams.^[13][14]

Format

Similar to previous seasons, all participating teams play in a single round-robin tournament for the regular season, playing one game against every other team. This season, each of the 29 teams is expected to play 28 games. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a designated home arena, with the home team usually playing in the final game. The top eight teams in each division will advance to the 2024 MPBL playoffs.

Standings

North Division Pos Team v t e Pld W L GB 1 San Juan Knights 28 26[a] 2 — 2 Pampanga Giant Lanterns 28 26[a] 2 — 3 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards 28 24 4 2 4 Manila SV Batang Sampaloc 28 20 8 6 5 Caloocan Batang Kankaloo 28 19 9 7 6 Pasay Voyagers 28 18[b] 10 8 7 Abra Weavers 28 18[b] 10 8 8 Rizal Golden Coolers 28 15[c] 13 11 9 Quezon City Toda Aksyon 28 15[c] 13 11 10 Valenzuela Classic 28 14 14 12 11 Pangasinan Heatwaves 28 12 16 14 12 Bataan Risers 28 9 19 17 13 Marikina Shoemasters 28 7 21 19 14 Bulacan Kuyas 28 2 26 24 WD Tarlac United Force[d] 0 0 0 12 Source: Standings Rules for classification: 1) Wins; 2a) If two teams are tied, head-to-head match-up; 2b) If three or more teams are tied, head-to-head point quotient; 3) overall point quotient; 4) coin toss . Notes: ^ a b San Juan wins tiebreaker over Pampanga based on head-to-head record. ^ a b Pasay wins tiebreaker over Abra based on head-to-head record. ^ a b Rizal wins tiebreaker over Quezon City based on head-to-head record. ^ The Tarlac United Force was pulled out by the league due to the team's failure to comply with financial obligations.

South Division Pos Team v t e Pld W L GB 1 Quezon Huskers 28 21 7 — 2 Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters 28 20[a] 8 1 3 Biñan Tatak Gel 28 20[a] 8 1 4 Zamboanga Master Sardines 28 20[a] 8 1 5 Parañaque Patriots 28 17[b] 11 4 6 South Cotabato Warriors 28 17[b] 11 4 7 Davao Occidental Tigers 28 15 13 6 8 Negros Muscovados 28 12 16 9 9 Iloilo United Royals 28 11 17 10 10 Mindoro Tamaraws 28 10 18 11 11 Muntinlupa Cagers 28 7 21 14 12 Sarangani Marlins 28 5 23 16 13 Bicolandia Oragons 28 3 25 18 14 Imus Agimat 28 2 26 19 15 Bacolod City of Smiles 28 1 27 20 Source: Standings Rules for classification: 1) Wins; 2a) If two teams are tied, head-to-head match-up; 2b) If three or more teams are tied, head-to-head point quotient; 3) overall point quotient; 4) coin toss . Notes: ^ a b c Batangas City (1.132), Biñan (0.950), and Zamboanga (0.931) are ranked based on head-to-head point quotient. ^ a b Parañaque wins tiebreaker over South Cotabato based on head-to-head record.

Results table

Team	Game
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Zamboanga (ZAM)	VAL 82–76*	BCL 97–82	MDR 86–72	NEG 88–73	SOC 85–83	QZN 77–82*	MAR 78–54	BCD 77–62	PAR 62–65	CAL (A) 72–65	BAN (A) 79–72	NE (A) 80–83	SAR 90–73	RZL 77–69	IMS 110–71	ILO 81–68	MUN 75–55	QC 89–85	PAM 79–82	BIÑ (A) 82–81	BTG 80–93	PGS (A) 74–75	DVO 67–65	BUL 103–63	ABR 76–68*	PSY (A) 87–78	SJ 72–77	MNL 78–86

Source: Schedule

Legend: Blue = win; Red = loss; Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime. (*) Number of asterisks denotes number of overtime periods

• All games scheduled from July 23 to 26 were postponed due to rains brought by
  Super Typhoon Carina.^[15][16][17]
  • The games on July 23 at San Andres Sports Complex were rescheduled to September 28 and moved to Olivarez College.
  • The games on July 25 at Caloocan Sports Complex were rescheduled to September 27.
  • The games on July 26 at Olivarez College were rescheduled to September 30.
• All games scheduled on September 2 at Ynares Sports Arena were postponed due to rains brought by
  Tropical Depression Enteng.^[18]
  They were later rescheduled to October 1 and moved to Paco Arena.
• Any postponed or suspended games will be rescheduled towards the end of the season and will be played or resumed should it have playoff implications.

As it has been since

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. Teams in italics have homecourt advantage for the series. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, while the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round.

The 2024 MPBL All-Star Game, the league's fifth overall, took place on September 7, 2024 at the

• Ahead of the season, the MPBL banned 47 players and officials for allegedly being involved in
  game fixing.^[46]
• On April 16, 2024, an altercation took place following the Abra–Pasay game in which one of the game officials was attacked by bodyguards of the Abra Weavers' team owner.[47]^[48] The league has since launched an investigation of the incident.^[49]
• On April 24, 2024, Germy Mahinay was fined and suspended indefinitely after undercutting Joey Barcuma during the Negros–Zamboanga game on April 22, which resulted in a Flagrant 2 foul leading to his ejection from the game.^[50]
• During the PBA season 49 draft on July 14, 2024, Justine Baltazar became the first MPBL player to be selected first overall in the PBA draft.^[51][52]

• On June 3, 2024, the
  Bacolod City of Smiles
  on June 12.
• On August 16, the Pampanga Giant Lanterns won their 22nd straight game of the season, surpassing the 2022 Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards for the longest single-season regular season winning streak in league history.^[53] The streak eventually ended at 23 games following a loss to the San Juan Knights on August 30.
• On August 22, the
  Manila Batang Sampaloc
  recorded 48 assists against the Bicolandia Oragons, the most assists by a team in a single game.
• On September 3, the Bacolod City of Smiles lost their 22nd straight game of the season, surpassing the 2020 Soccsksargen/Sarangani Marlins for the longest single-season losing streak in league history.
• On September 16, the Bacolod City of Smiles lost their 24th straight game, surpassing the aforementioned Bicolandia Oragons for the longest overall losing streak in league history.
• On September 19, Philip Manalang of the
  Imus Agimat, breaking the previous record held by Marwin Taywan (20) in 2022.^[54]
• On September 27, the Bacolod City of Smiles and
  Imus Agimat
  scored a combined 257 points, tying the record for the highest-scoring game between two teams alongside the 2023 Nueva Ecija–Sarangani game.
• The Pampanga Giant Lanterns and San Juan Knights both tied for the winningest regular season at 26 wins alongside the 2020 San Juan Knights, 2020 Davao Occidental Tigers, and the 2023 Pampanga Giant Lanterns.

• April 6, 2024 – Jaycee Marcelino becomes the 29th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• April 12, 2024 – Ian Melencio becomes the 30th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• April 17, 2024 – Michael Mabulac becomes the 6th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
  • Michael Mabulac also becomes the 4th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points and rebounds.
• April 20, 2024 – Robby Celiz becomes the 31st player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• April 22, 2024:
  • Jhaymo Eguilos becomes the 7th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
    • Jhaymo Eguilos also becomes the 5th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points and rebounds.
  • Carlo Lastimosa becomes the 32nd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• April 25, 2024 – Orlan Wamar Jr. becomes the 33rd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• April 29, 2024 – Mark Cruz becomes the 34th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• May 7, 2024 – Billy Ray Robles becomes the 35th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• May 17, 2024 – Emman Calo becomes the 36th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• June 19, 2024 – Paolo Javelona becomes the 37th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• July 11, 2024 – Larry Rodriguez becomes the 38th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• July 13, 2024 – Gab Banal becomes the 39th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• July 19, 2024 – Judel Fuentes becomes the 40th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• July 20, 2024 – Pamboy Raymundo becomes the 41st player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• August 26, 2024 – Yvan Ludovice becomes the 42nd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• August 27, 2024 – Rhaffy Octobre becomes the 43rd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• August 31, 2024 – Robbie Manalang becomes the 44th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
• September 12, 2024 – Laurenz Victoria becomes the 47th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.

Junior MPBL began its second season on May 5, 2024, retaining the same three age groups (14-under, 16-under, and 18-under). A new 21-under age group, billed as the Junior MPBL D-League, began its first season as well.

This season marked the third year of

The games were streamed live via