NBA stars Myles Powell, Andrew Nicholson sign with Bay Area Dragons as East Asia Super League Season nears
- Bay Area Dragons sign two former NBA players as team prepares for East Asia Super League Season 1 and the PBA Commissioner’s Cup
- A former Philadelphia 76ers guard, Powell appeared in 14 games, while Nicholson spent five seasons with the NBA
The Bay Area Dragons have bolstered their roster ahead of the East Asia Super League season, signing former NBA players Andrew Nicholson and Myles Powell.
Nicholson, a Canadian forward, who spent five seasons in the NBA with the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets joins Powell, a former Philadelphia 76ers guard, as the second import player to debut in the upcoming season.
“We have signed a stand-out young scoring guard who has had a sensational college career and worked his way up from the G-League to the NBA,” Bay Area Dragons head coach Brian Goorjian said.
Nicholson brings considerable international experience to the side. In addition to his NBA career, he spent three seasons with the Chinese Basketball Association and most recently played for Daegu KOGAS Pegasus in the Korean Basketball League.
“Andrew Nicholson is someone that we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. His size is undeniably an advantage on the court; but it’s his skill set and his approach to the game that really attracted our attention,” Liu Quansheng, Bay Area Dragons general manager, said.
“He has a strong inside presence and can knock down shots from beyond the arc as many Chinese fans have seen when he played three seasons in the China Basketball Association. We can’t wait to start working with Andrew.”
In March this year, the Bay Area Dragons and the Philippine Basketball Association announced the newly established club would join the PBA for the Commissioner’s Cup as a guest team due to Covid-19 travel-related obstacles in the Dragons’ home city of Hong Kong.
The deal means the new franchise will compete in PBA and the East Asia Super League when competition begins in October.
The start of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup is expected to begin on September 21, while EASL’s inaugural home-and-away season begins from October 12.
The Dragons first game is on October 12 against the runner-up of the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup.
Last month, the Bay Area Dragons announced a roster of players from mainland China and Hong Kong will play under head coach Goorjian, who led the Australian national team to their first-ever Olympic medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Duncan Reid, a four-time Hong Kong A1 Division champion with South China who also played in the CBA with Zhejiang Golden Bulls and the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings was the stair recruit, along side Wuhan Sports University alumni Zhang Zhiyuan, and former South China and Jiangsu stars Glen Yang and Zheng Qilong.
The Dragons also signed China national team player Liu Chuanxing, former CBA star Song Jianhua, and ex-China University Basketball Association champion Zheng Qilong.
“We’re building this team to be competitive right off the bat,” Goorjian said.
“Ultimately our goal is to win games and establish a strong culture that will allow the players to excel and sharpen their skills against the best competition the region has to offer.”
