Sam Deguara to join first Hong Kong team in Chinese NBL

Malta international Sam Deguara will be continuing his journey through Asia, now joining the Hong Kong Golden Bulls in the Chinese National Basketball League – China’s second tier.

This move was confirmed by the side upon launching this season’s NBL roster on their socials on Thursday, one day after the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Hong Kong Basketball Association (HKBA) signed a cooperation agreement in Beijing.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 香港金牛 Hong Kong Bulls (@hongkongbulls)

“The Hong Kong Golden Bulls invited senior coach Liu Tie to join as the head coach of the team. According to the NBL league player registration regulations, the registration of 18 players has been completed, including five Hong Kong players, 10 mainland players, one Chinese Taiwanese player, and two foreign players,” a club statement read, with Deguara and American forward Maurice Kemp being the import players on the team.

This will be Deguara’s second side from Hong Kong after his stint with Hong Kong Easter back in 2018. This time, however, he joins a newly built squad, one affiliated with Golden Bulls Hon Friends team which competes in Hong Kong’s A1 Division.

The Malta centre moves after a season in the Taiwan T1 League with the Tainan TSG Ghosthawks where he had signed close to a year ago and faced the likes of former NBA star Dwight Howard. He played 34 games, averaging 30.6 minutes a game. He finished his commitments with the club with an average of 19.7 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and close to a block per game. He then joined the Malta squad for the Games of the Small States of Europe which led to a silver-medal finish on home court.

Unlike other leagues, Deguara will now be a part of a championship that allows teams to register a maximum of four import players throughout this season, while a maximum of two can play each game. Teams can deploy imports on six occasions during a game but only one import player is allowed per team in the final quarter.