The 2008–09 PBA season was the 34th season of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

. The season formally opened on October 4, 2008 and ended on July 17, 2009. This was the first time that the league will hold their opening ceremonies on a Saturday. The league started the season with the 2008-09 Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference, while capping off the season with the import-laiden 2009 Fiesta Conference. The first activity of the season was the 2008 PBA Draft last August 31 at the Market! Market! in

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig ( fil, Lungsod ng Taguig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 886,722 people. Located in the northwestern shores of ...

Pre-season events

Broadcast contracts

The 2008-09 season would be the first season under the PBA's new broadcast contract with

Solar Sports Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate ...

. Games would now air on their cable channel

Basketball TV Basketball TV or BTV was a Philippine pay television sports channel with offices on Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong. It was owned by the Solar Entertainment Corporation. It was launched on October 1, 2006, rebranding the Sports Plus channel. On S ...

, and on the stations of the

Radio Philippines Network Radio Philippines Network, Inc. (RPN) is a Philippine television and radio company based in Quezon City. It is the flagship media property of Nine Media Corporation of the ALC Group of Companies; along with the Office of the Press Secretar ...

(who curiously, were the first broadcaster of the PBA) after an intense bidding war between Solar and

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under L ...

Team re-brandings

*The Welcoat Dragons became the

Rain or Shine Elasto Painters The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association owned by Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc. It debuted in the league in the 2006–07 PBA season after acquiring the franchise right ...

(their last team name in the

Philippine Basketball League The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league was composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars. History The PBL was formed on Ma ...

). *The Magnolia Beverage Masters returned to their previous identity as the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra ...

. *The Talk 'N Text Phone Pals became the

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fra ...

Major trades

*The Alaska Aces traded 6-foot-3 Veteran Forward Eddie Laure and 6-foot-1 Point Guard Solomon Mercado to

for 6-foot-7 Forward

Joe Devance Joe Calvin Devance Jr. (born February 19, 1982) is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player who won 12 championships over the course of his career with the Alaska Aces, the Magnolia franchise, and the Barangay Ginebra San Migu ...

. *The

Air21 Express The Air21 Express were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that debuted in the 2011–12 season. The team debuted as the Shopinas.com Clickers during the 2011–12 PBA Philippine Cup. In 2014, the fran ...

traded 6-foot-4 Forward Mark Borboran to Alaska Aces in exchange for 6-foot-6 Forward/Center

J.R. Quiñahan JR, J. R. or Jr. may refer to: * Jr. or Junior (suffix), a name suffix Arts and entertainment * ''J.R.'' (album), an album by Jim Bob * ''J R'', a 1975 novel written by William Gaddis * "Jr.", a song by Codeine on the album ''Barely Real'' * J. ...

Opening ceremonies

The season began on October 4 with the

defeating the

Coca Cola Tigers The Powerade Tigers were a professional basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association from 2002 to 2012. The franchise was owned by Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) when the company acquired Cosmos Bottling ...

, 98-97. The muses for the participating teams are as follows:

2008-09 Philippine Cup

Elimination round

Playoffs

Finals

*Finals MVP:

Mark Cardona Mark Reynan Mikesell Cardona (born November 13, 1981) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Boracay Islanders of the Pilipinas Super League. From a successful college career with the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers, C ...

( Talk 'N Text) *Best Player of the Conference:

Willie Miller William Ferguson Miller MBE (born 2 May 1955) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen. Sir Alex Ferguson described Miller as "the best penalty box defender in t ...

( Alaska Aces)

Smart Gilas exhibition games

Exhibition games were held prior to Games 4 and 6 of the Philippine Cup Finals between the

Smart Gilas The Philippines men's national basketball team ( fil, Pambansang koponan ng basketbol ng Pilipinas), commonly known as Gilas Pilipinas, is the basketball team representing the Philippines. The team is managed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipi ...

(Philippines team that will compete in the FIBA Asia Championship 2011) coached by

Rajko Toroman Rajko Toroman ( sr-Cyrl, Рајко Тороман; born February 10, 1955) is a Serbian professional basketball coach. Coaching career Before 2016, he served as a team consultant for the Barako Bull Energy Cola and the Petron Blaze Boosters ...

and previously eliminated teams from the Philippine Cup. The games also marked the appearance of the newly renamed Burger King Titans team formerly known as the Air21 Express.

2009 Fiesta Conference

Notable events

*Red Bull Barako changed their name to Barako Bull Energy Boosters. *The former Air21 Express were renamed as the Burger King Titans. However, with the failure of several business deals that would have changed the franchise's upper management, the Titans renamed into the

Burger King Whoppers Burger or Burgers may refer to: Food and drink Foods * Hamburger, a sandwich consisting of one or more cooked beef patties, placed inside a sliced bread roll or bun roll. ** Cheeseburger, a hamburger with added cheese(s) * Ground beef, minced b ...

by their seventh game into the conference, retaining their old management headed by the Lina family. *The May 16 game between the

Barangay Ginebra Kings A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

and the Alaska Aces held at the

Albay Astrodome Albay,