San Juan, Jul 10 (EFE) .- With the participation of twelve teams, two of them with Puerto Rican urban artists Bad Bunny and Anuel AA as executives, the 2021 season of the National Superior Basketball -main League of Puerto Rico- kicks off this Saturday .
The teams will be the Cangrejeros de Santurce, Capitanes de Arecibo, Vaqueros de Bayamón, Mets de Guaynabo, Gigantes de Carolina, Grises de Humacao, Brujos de Guayama, Leones de Ponce, Indios de Mayagüez, Atléticos de San Germán, Cariduros de Fajardo and Piratas of Quebradillas.
Bad Bunny, along with Noah Assad, his artistic manager, and Jonathan Miranda, are the trustees of the Cangrejeros, while Anuel AA bought the Capitanes franchise.
Bad Bunny is a well-known follower of sports, specifically basketball and wrestling.
In basketball, the artist has participated in two of the Celebrity Games organized by the NBA prior to the All-Star Game.
Assad, for his part, is also the co-founder and chief executive officer of Rimas Music Entertainment, a record label that represents renowned Puerto Rican artists such as urban artists Bad Bunny, Arcángel and Eladio Carrión, and singer-songwriter Tommy Torres.
The Cangrejeros, in turn, will have in their ranks base José Juan Barea, with experience in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves, and Movistar Estudiantes in the Endesa League.
Barea has not played for BSN since 2006.
The club will also feature Canadian center Anthony Bennett, first pick in the 2013 NBA Rookie Draw.
The club’s coach will be Argentine Nestor “Che” García.
Los Cangrejeros, meanwhile, is one of the franchises with the longest tradition in BSN, with a history of eight championships won in its history.
Its last season before disappearing as a franchise was in 2016.
For its part, Anuel AA, together with its manager, Frabian Eli, bought the Capitanes franchise from businessman Luis Monrouzeau, who under his administration the club won five championships.
The Capitanes, in turn, will have several players with experience in the Puerto Rico national team, such as David Huertas, Devon Collier, Denis Clemente and Chris Gaston.
Also on this team will be Puerto Rican Walter Hodge, point guard for the US Virgin Islands national team.
Meanwhile, forward Isaiah Piñeiro, a member of the Puerto Rico national team, will make his league debut with the Piratas de Quebradillas.
In addition to Bad Bunny and Anuel AA, another figure that stands out among the league’s executives is Puerto Rican player Yadier Molina, of the San Luis Cardinals, as the owner of the Vaqueros since the 2020 season.
The 2021 season will be divided into two sections. In A will be Bayamón, Santurce, Guaynabo, Humacao, Carolina and Guayama, and in B are Ponce, Mayagüez, San Germán, Fajardo, Quebradillas and Arecibo.
Each team will play 32 games in the regular season, facing teams in its section four times and teams in the other section twice.
The 2021 season, for its part, will undergo some changes, specifically health, as the BSN board of directors announced that the fields may not exceed 50% of their capacity on the recommendation of the Department of Health to prevent cases of covid-19.
However, the health agency considered allowing the entry of people who have not been vaccinated against the virus, as long as they present a negative result of a test made up to a maximum of 72 hours before the event.
Likewise, the BSN determined that it will not allow entry to minors 12 years old at the moment.
(c) EFE Agency