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The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a professional basketball league in the Philippines...

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a professional basketball league in the Philippines founded in 1975. It is the first and the oldest professional basketball league in Asia. The league's rules are a hybrid of FIBA's and the NBA's rules. The league is currently headed by Commissioner Sonny Barrios. The Philippine Basketball Association was founded as a "rebellion" of nine teams from the now-defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) which was tightly controlled by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP; now defunct), the then-FIBA recognized national association. With the BAP controlling the MICAA, the league was de jure amateur as players were only paid allowances, much like what was done on other countries to circumvent the amateur requirement, and to play in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments such as the Olympics. With the PBA out of the BAP's control, they can freely pay salaries to their players, hence making the PBA the oldest professional basketball league outside the United States; however this also caused the league's players from being barred from playing in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments. Leopoldo Prieto, the coach for the