Hong Kong champions Regal will no longer compete in the domestic league although the SAR's most successful team plan to compete in next year's Asian Basketball Confederation Champions' Cup.
Club boss Stanley Au made the announcement at a press conference yesterday, confirming earlier reports that the team were on the verge of folding.
Au said Regal would not compete in the men's A1 Division championship next season because the team had not been getting enough local opposition.
He said Regal hoped to compete in next year's ABC tournament and emulate their triumph of 1997.
'We plan use new players for next year's ABC tournament [Regal are two-time finalists]. The players will be on short term contracts,' he said.
'We plan to invite two former NBA players from the United States, four to five national players from China and between four to five local players.' 'As we won't be playing in the local league, a lot of the Regal players will be playing for different teams, so it will be difficult to get them together for the ABC tournament,' he added.