BCL Asia 2024, Pelita Jaya Strengthened by Former Dallas Mavericks Players

Jakarta, Beritasatu.com – A former American NBA (National Basketball Association) basketball player who once played for the Dallas Mavericks club in the 2021/2022 season, JaQuori McLaughlin was recruited by the Pelita Jaya Jakarta basketball club for the 2024 Basketball Champions League (BCL) Asia event.

According to the President of the Pelita Jaya club, Andiko Ardi Purnomo, the addition of the former NBA player is believed to strengthen the depth of the squad to be able to focus on dividing forces, in order to compete in international events as well as in local competitions in the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL).

“So we are using a maximum of five foreign player slots that are allowed in one team,” Andiko told reporters in Jakarta, Wednesday (20/3/2024).

It was explained that McLaughlin played in the position at point guard (PG) is also skilled as shooting guard (SG), thereby increasing the team's power to compete at the Asian level later.

Andiko added, apart from these players, Pelita Jaya also brought in one foreign player of American-Filipino descent, namely Justin Donta Brownlee who plays a versatile position as small forward (SF) or power forward (PF).

The naturalized Filipino player has played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Club which competes in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

To compete in BCL Asia, Pelita only focuses on winning game by game, so that she can qualify for the next stage.

Meanwhile, JaQuori McLaughlin said he was happy to be able to play at a club like Pelita Jaya. “This is a new challenge for me to play here and try to play well,” said the 26 year old basketball player with a height of 1.93 meters.

Pelita Jaya Jakarta and Prawira Harum Bandung will represent Indonesia in the BCL Asia 2024 competition which starts with the qualifying round in two cities, namely in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and Jakarta, Indonesia.

The first qualifying round took place in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia on 3-7 April 2024, then continued with the second qualifying round in Jakarta Indonesia, on 23-26 April.

In that event, Prawira Harum Bandung and Pelita Jaya Jakarta were chosen as the team representing Indonesia because they were the champions and runners-up of IBL 2023.

In the struggle in the qualifying round, Prawira Harum Bandung joined in Group A with representatives from Malaysia (NS Matrix Deers), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Eastern) and Mongolia (runner up in the competition in Mongolia).

Then Pelita Jaya will compete in Group B with representatives from Thailand (Hi-Tech Basketball Club), competition champions Mongolia, and representatives from Singapore (Adroid Club).

In the first qualifying round in Mongolia, each team will play three matches. The first place in Groups A and B will qualify for the second qualifying round in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, second and third place in each group will meet again in a cross-over, to compete for tickets to the second qualifying round in Jakarta. That way, four teams will compete in Jakarta to win tickets to BCL Asia 2024.

The two teams that passed the qualifying round in Jakarta will compete again with the winning teams in their respective countries' competitions from South Korea, Japan, China and the Philippines.