The 2025 MPBL season is the seventh season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and its fourth under professional status. The regular season began on March 8, 2025 with the opening ceremony at the Capital Arena in Ilagan, Isabela. The season will end in December with the 2025 MPBL finals.

This season features 30 teams. The league expanded to the Cagayan Valley region for the first time with the addition of the Ilagan Isabela Cowboys. Three teams (Basilan Viva Portmasters, Cebu Classic, and Pasig City) made their comebacks. This season will also see the introduction of the league’s play-in tournament to be held in between the regular season and playoffs.

The Pampanga Giant Lanterns are two-time defending champions and reigning North Division champions, while the Quezon Huskers are the reigning South Division champions.^[1][2]

This season will also mark the first of a new two-year title sponsorship deal with gambling company 1xbet.^[3]

On February 2, 2025, the league announced a couple of changes to its playoff format, the biggest being the addition of a play-in tournament similar to the NBA's play-in round, which will be contested by teams ranked seventh through tenth in their respective divisions. The seventh and eighth-ranked teams will play for the seventh seed in the playoffs. The losing team will face the winner of the game between the ninth and tenth-ranked teams for the eighth seed and the final playoff spot. Due to this change, only the top six teams will directly advance to the playoffs.

In addition, the division finals is made a best-of-five series from the best-of-three series in previous seasons. These changes mark the first since the league expanded the playoffs to a 16-team pool due to the league's national expansion in 2019.^[4]

On January 22, the league announced that it will not host a Preseason Invitational tournament this season, so that the competing teams can focus on building their rosters. This will mark the first time in the professional era that the league will not host such a tournament.^[5]

Teams were given until February 1 to submit their intent to compete, although some were given extensions.^[5] This season, 30 teams will compete, one more than the 29 teams of the previous two seasons. This makes it the second-biggest team pool in league history, only behind the 2019–20 season, which had 31 teams compete. However, the final lineup of teams as well as the division alignment is currently unannounced.^[6]

On January 16, commissioner Kenneth Duremdes announced that an expansion team based in Ilagan, Isabela will join the regional league this season.^[7] The team, later named the Ilagan Isabela Cowboys, was formally established on February 1, marking the first time the league has a team based in the Cagayan Valley region and will continue the expansion into Northern Luzon, following additions of the Pangasinan Heatwaves and the Abra Weavers last season.^[8]

Three teams also made their return. After being absent in the last three seasons, the Basilan's MPBL team is set to return this season as the Basilan Viva Portmasters (initially the Basilan Starhorse), having competed in the 2019–20 season as the Basilan Steel, and as a guest team in the 2021 Preseason Invitational as the Basilan Jumbo Plastic.^[9] Similarly, Cebu's MPBL team will also return for the first time since 2020, now known as the Cebu Classic.^[10] The Pasig City MPBL team is the last team to make its return, after not competing in the previous season.

On the other hand, three teams made their depatures. The Bicolandia Oragons and Iloilo United Royals left the league after competing in three of the last four seasons while the Negros Muscovados depart after two seasons. This means that Bicol Region and Western Visayas won't have any representatives for their respective regions.

The Ilagan Isabela Cowboys were placed in the North Division alongside Pasig City while the Basilan Viva Portmasters and Cebu Classic were placed in the South Division. To balance both divisions, the Rizal Golden Coolers were realigned back to the South, its fourth realignment in history and first since 2023.

Rookie signings

• The Abra Solid North Weavers signed CJ Austria and Joshua David (De La Salle), Jack Cruz-Dumont (UE), and Filipino-foreigner Kascius Small-Martin (Brock).^[11][12]

Free agent signings

• The Abra Solid North Weavers signed two-time all-star and former All-MPBL Team selection Leo Najorda. He last played for the Koponang Lakan ng Bulacan of the Pilipinas Super League (PSL) in 2023.^[13]
• The Pangasinan Heatwaves signed 2018 PBA Mr. Quality Minutes Vic Manuel. He last played for the Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 2025.^[14]
• The Sarangani Marlins signed two-time all-star and 2022 Rookie of the Year Kyt Jimenez. He last played for the San Miguel Beermen of the PBA in 2024. Notably, Jimenez also recorded the elusive quadruple-double while playing for Sarangani in 2022.^[15]

Transfers

• The Abra Solid North Weavers signed all-star Encho Serrano from the Pampanga Giant Lanterns.^[16]
• The Basilan Starhorse signed two-time All-Star Game MVP Jeff Viernes (from Pampanga) alongside fellow all-stars Rabeh Al-Hussaini (from Manila) and Emman Calo (from Nueva Ecija).^[17] Basilan also signed PBA great Arwind Santos from the Pampanga Giant Lanterns.^[18]
• The Cebu Classic signed two-time all-star Paulo Hubalde from the Valenzuela Classic.^[19]
• The Ilagan Isabela Cowboys signed former Finals MVP and Ilagan native Val Acuña from the South Cotabato Warriors.^[20]
• The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards signed the Marcelino twins, Jaycee and Jayvee, from the Zamboanga Master Sardines. The former won Most Valuable Player in 2022 and was selected to three All-MPBL First Teams while with Zamboanga.^[21]

Departures

• Two-time season MVP and two-time finals MVP Justine Baltazar departed the league after two seasons, both with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns, to sign with the Converge FiberXers of the PBA.^[22]

New venues for this season are indicated with bold text.

Abra Solid North Weavers	Bataan Risers	Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters	Biñan Tatak Gel
University of Abra (Gov. Andres B. Bernos Memorial Gymnasium) Bangued, Abra	Bataan People's Center Balanga, Bataan	Batangas City Coliseum Batangas City, Batangas	Alonte Sports Arena Biñan, Laguna
Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 6,500

Caloocan Batang Kankaloo	Ilagan Isabela Cowboys	Manila Batang Quiapo	Mindoro Tamaraws
Caloocan Sports Complex Caloocan	Capital Arena[8] Ilagan, Isabela	San Andres Sports Complex Manila	Sentrong Pangkabataan Calapan, Oriental Mindoro
Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: N/A

Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards	Pangasinan Heatwaves		Pasay Voyagers
Nueva Ecija Coliseum Palayan, Nueva Ecija	Calasiao Sports Complex Calasiao, Pangasinan	Robert B. Estrella Sr. Memorial Stadium[15] Rosales, Pangasinan	Cuneta Astrodome Pasay
Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 12,000

Pasig City	Quezon Huskers	Rizal Golden Coolers	San Juan Knights
Ynares Sports Arena Pasig	Quezon Convention Center Lucena	Ynares Center Antipolo, Rizal	Filoil EcoOil Centre San Juan
Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 7,000	Capacity: 7,400	Capacity: 6,000

Valenzuela Classic	Zamboanga Sikat
WES Arena Valenzuela	Mayor Vitaliano D. Agan Coliseum Zamboanga City
Capacity: N/A	Capacity: 12,000

The regular season will begin on March 8, 2025. As has been the case since 2023, the season opener and opening ceremony will be hosted by an expansion team from the current season, this time being the Ilagan Isabela Cowboys at the Capital Arena in Ilagan, Isabela.^[7] The opening doubleheader will feature the Biñan Tatak Gel and the Abra Weavers in the first game, followed by the Sarangani Marlins and the home team Cowboys in the second game.^[15]

Similar to previous seasons, all participating teams will play in a single round-robin tournament for the regular season, playing one game against every other team. This season, the league's 30 teams will each play 29 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.

Under the new postseason format, the top six teams in each division will advance directly to the 2025 MPBL playoffs, while teams ranked seventh through tenth will compete in a play-in tournament for the final two spots.^[4]

Notes

• Any game details are subject to change. The full schedule is revealed over time as the season progresses.
• Games that are played home or away are indicated by the superscript after the opposing team's abbreviation (H for home and A for away). Games with no superscript are neutral-site.

Notes

As of March 15, 2025

• March 10, 2025 – John Wilson becomes the first player to reach 2,000 MPBL career points.
• March 15, 2025 – Marco Balagtas becomes the 48th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.

The third season of the MPBL's youth league, the Junior MPBL, is expected to begin in April 2025.^[24][25]

This season will be the first of a new television deal with Solar Entertainment Corporation, succeeding Cignal TV, which was the league's television partner from 2022 to 2024. Solar airs a selection of "over 200 games" on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on its Solar Sports channel throughout the season. The league continues to broadcast all games on its social media platforms.^[26][6]