The Cebu Greats is a Filipino professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team based in the Cebu metropolitan area. The team competes in the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

(MPBL) as a member of the league's

South Division South Division may refer to: * South Division (AFL), a division of the Arena Football League * South Division (MPBL), a division of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League * South Division (CFL), a former division of the Canadian Football League ...

. The team has played its home games across multiple venues across Metro Cebu. The team began play in the 2018–19 season as the Cebu City Sharks, then renamed as the Cebu Sharks the following season. Midway through the season, the team was renamed as the Cebu Casino Ethyl Alcohol, named after Casino Ethyl Alcohol from owners International Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. The team then went on hiatus for five years before making a return for the

2025 MPBL season 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 ...

as the Cebu Classic, before an ownership change in the middle of that season saw the franchise rebrand as the Cebu Greats. The Cebu franchise is one of two teams based in

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

, the other being the Bacolod Tubo Slashers, and the lone team based in the

Central Visayas Central Visayas (; or ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. With only two Provinces of the Philippines, provinces: Cebu and Bohol, as well as three Cities of the Phi ...

region.

History

2018–2020: First stint

The Cebu City Sharks were one of sixteen expansion teams in the 2018–19 MPBL season, as well as the first team based in

. That season saw Cebu make the playoffs despite having a losing record, they eventually lost to the

Davao Occidental Tigers The Davao Occidental Tigers (also known as Davao Occidental Tigers – Cocolife due to sponsorship reasons) are a Filipino professional basketball team based in the Davao metropolitan area and representing the province of Davao Occidental. The ...

. In the 2019–20 season, the team finished ninth, one game behind the eighth-place team in the South Division, the

Bicol Volcanoes The Bicol Volcanoes were a Filipino professional basketball team based in Legazpi, Albay. The team last competed in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) from 2019 to 2020 and again from 2023 to 2024. The team played its home games a ...

. The Cebu franchise also had an all-star selection in each of its first two seasons: Patrick Cabahug in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

Will McAloney William Bill McAloney Jr. (born September 1, 1993) is a Filipino-Canadian professional basketball player for the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). In his collegiate career, he played for Emilio Ag ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2025–present: Second stint

The Cebu franchise was mentioned as among the teams that were set to return for the league's 2023 season, however its return did not materialize for unknown reasons. Two years later in 2025, another attempt at Cebu's return to the MPBL was first reported by journalist

Snow Badua Edmund "Snow" Pineda Badua (born April 22, 1977) is a Filipino sports journalist writing articles for Spin.ph. He is also the founder of "PTV Sports", a nightly sports newscast aired on PTV which served as his home network from March 2006 t ...

, stating from his source that the franchise was bought by new management and that it is "finalizing details” for its revival. The revival will be managed by Voltaire Ora, who was previously the team manager of the

Valenzuela Classic The Val City Magic is a Filipino professional basketball team based in Valenzuela. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. The team plays its home games at WES Arena. T ...

. Among the players joining the revived team are

Paulo Hubalde Dean Paulo Villegas Hubalde (born January 24, 1981) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Cebu Classic of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). He is the son of PBA great, Freddie Hubalde. Hubalde plays the guard pos ...

and

Rashawn McCarthy Rashawn Frisco McCarthy (born September 10, 1989) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who last played for the Cebu Classic of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). Professional career McCarthy played two seasons with ...

Greg Slaughter Gregory William Slaughter (born May 19, 1988) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who last played for the Manila SV Batang Sampaloc of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). He was selected first overall by the Bar ...

was also set to join, but eventually turned away from the team.

Team Roster

Current roster

Head coaches

Notable players

MPBL All-Star Day

All-Star selections *

Patrick Cabahug Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

–

PBA players

Ex-PBA players *

Season-by-season records

''Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the

2019–20 MPBL season The 2019–20 MPBL season, also known as the MPBL Lakan Season or the Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Season for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. It was also the last season of the league's amateur ...

.''

References

Cebu Greats

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

2018 establishments in the Philippines Basketball teams established in 2018 Sports in Cebu {{Philippines-basketball-team-stub