2023 MPBL season

The 2023 MPBL season was the fifth season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League and the second as a professional league. The regular season began on March 11, 2023 with the opening ceremonies at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena. The 2023 MPBL All-Star Game was held at Bataan People's Center in Balanga, Bataan on September 16. The league took two breaks during the regular season, during Holy Week and during the Philippines' co-hosting of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The playoffs then began on October 6 and ended on December 2 when the Pampanga Giant Lanterns defeated the Bacoor City Strikers in three games in the 2023 MPBL finals.
This season featured 29 teams, which included two expansion teams: the Negros Muscovados and the Quezon Huskers.
OKBet continued to be the league's title sponsor throughout the regular season.

Teams

Expansion

This season featured two new expansion teams. After competing in the 2021 Invitational, the Negros Muscovados marked their full-time arrival this season. The Quezon Huskers also made their league debut, giving every province in the Calabarzon region at least one team. Five teams also made their return to the league, which includes the Bicol Volcanoes, Bulacan Kuyas, Iloilo United Royals, Parañaque Patriots and Pasay Voyagers. This increased the total number of teams from 22 to 29.
Every returning team is allocated to its previous division, with both Negros and Quezon being placed in the South Division. The Rizal Golden Coolers were realigned back to the North Division.

Arenas

; Notes

Only used for the 2023 Preseason Invitational.
Despite the presence of the Manila Stars, the arena was not used by the team during the season.

Name changes

The Batangas City Embassy Chill temporarily changed its name to Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters during the 2023 Preseason Invitational.
The Imus City Bandera changed its name to Imus SV Squad before the 2023 Preseason Invitational.
The Bacolod Bingo Plus changed its name to Bacolod City of Smiles before the start of the season. The team is alternatively known as the Bacolod Maskaras.
The Caloocan Excellence changed its name to Caloocan Batang Kankaloo before the start of the season.
The Laguna Heroes Krah Asia changed its name to Laguna Krah Asia before the start of the season.
The Makati × MNL Kingpin changed its name to Makati OKBet Kings before the start of the season.
The Mindoro Tams changed its name to Oriental Mindoro Disiplinados before the start of the season, then later changed to Mindoro Disiplinados in June 2023.
The Quezon City MG changed its name to Quezon City Gaz N Go before the start of the season, then later changed to Quezon City Toda Aksyon in June 2023.

Pre-season

This season was preceded by the 2023 MPBL Preseason Invitational, which used a similar format to the 2021 Invitational, but downsized because of the smaller eight-team pool. The tournament ran for one week from February 21–27, 2023 at the Lagao Gymnasium in General Santos, the home arena of the GenSan Warriors.
The tournament was won by the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines after beating the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards in the final game with a score of 88–80, with Dexter Maiquez winning MVP honors.

Regular season

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on March 11, 2023 at Quezon Convention Center in Lucena, Quezon. Rapper Andrew E. and singer Marcelito Pomoy were both among the performers to kick off the regular season. Like previous seasons, a muse contest followed wherein some teams took part in.
The first game was between the Rizal Golden Coolers and the Bataan Risers, while the first home game featured the two expansion teams this season, with the Quezon Huskers hosting the Negros Muscovados.

Format

The 29 teams play in a single round-robin format, playing one game against all other teams in the league for a total of 28 games. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a designated home arena, with the home team usually playing in the final game.
The top eight teams in each division will advance to a four-round, single-elimination playoffs, playing in best-of-three series in the first three rounds, and a best-of-five series in the National Finals, with homecourt advantage alternating between the higher seeds of each series in the first two rounds.

Postponed and cancelled games

The Bacoor City–Bataan and Quezon–Marikina games, originally scheduled for September 22, 2023 at Marikina Sports Center, were postponed due to health concerns brought by volcanic smog. Both were then postponed to October 3, 2023, while the venue remained unchanged.
* The Laguna–Manila game, also originally scheduled for September 22, 2023, was later cancelled due to it having no effect on playoff standings.

Standings

; North Division
; South Division

Results

Each team plays every team once. Number of asterisks after each score denotes number of overtimes played.

Playoffs

The 2023 MPBL playoffs began on October 6, 2023.

Bracket

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its division, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Teams with homecourt advantage, the higher-seeded team, are shown in italics.

All-Star Game

The 2023 MPBL All-Star Game, the league's fourth overall, took place on September 16, 2023 at the Bataan People's Center in Balanga, Bataan, the home arena of the Bataan Risers. The North Division finally won against the South Division after three seasons, with a score of 99–91, with All-Star MVP honors going to Justine Baltazar.

Records and milestones

Records

May 30, 2023 – Justine Baltazar of the Pampanga Giant Lanterns broke the single-game rebounding record, with 27 rebounds against the Bataan Risers.
June 3, 2023:
* Jeff Viernes of the Sarangani Marlins broke the single-game scoring record, with 50 points against the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards, beating the previous record held by John Wilson in 2019.
* Sarangani won 134–123, putting an end to Nueva Ecija's 32-game regular season winning streak, which began at the start of the 2022 season. The 257 total points scored between the two teams is also the most such in a single game.
August 2, 2023 – Poypoy Actub of the Imus SV Squad broke the single-game dunking record, with 7 dunks against the Bulacan Kuyas.
September 30, 2023 – The Pampanga Giant Lanterns tied the record for most wins in a single season, earning its 26th win against the San Juan Knights. The San Juan Knights and Davao Occidental Tigers both had 26 wins in the 2019–20 season.

Milestones

March 11, 2023 – James Castro becomes the 14th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
March 20, 2023 – Chito Jaime becomes the 15th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
March 25, 2023 – Allan Mangahas becomes the 16th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
March 27, 2023 – Alwyn Alday becomes the 17th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
March 30, 2023 – Felix Apreku becomes the 2nd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
April 14, 2023 - Jay-R Taganas becomes the 3rd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
May 6, 2023 – Chris Bitoon becomes the 18th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
May 10, 2023 – Dhon Reverente becomes the 19th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
May 22, 2023 – Mark Montuano becomes the 20th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
June 7, 2023:
* Paul Sanga becomes the 21st player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
* Reil Cervantes becomes the 22nd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
June 8, 2023 - James Martinez becomes the 23rd player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
June 21, 2023 - Dhon Reverente becomes the 4th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
* Dhon Reverente also becomes the second player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points and rebounds.
July 5, 2023 – Jeff Viernes becomes the 24th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
August 14, 2023 – Robin Roño becomes the 25th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
September 18, 2023 – Paolo Hubalde becomes the 26th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
October 24, 2023 – Dave Moralde becomes the 27th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.
October 28, 2023:
*Jeckster Apinan becomes the 5th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career rebounds.
** Jeckster Apinan also becomes the third player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points and rebounds.
* Jhaymo Eguilos becomes the 28th player to reach 1,000 MPBL career points.

Awards

Individual season awards

Most of the league's individual awards were given out on November 28, 2023 before game 2 of the National Finals series at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in San Fernando, Pampanga. The Finals Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year were awarded at the conclusion of the national finals on December 2, 2023 at Strike Gymnasium in Bacoor, Cavite.
Two new awards were introduced this season, those being the Most Improved Player and the Impact Player of the Year.

Award	Recipient	Team
Most Valuable Player	Justine Baltazar	Pampanga Giant Lanterns
Finals Most Valuable Player	Justine Baltazar	Pampanga Giant Lanterns
Defensive Player of the Year	Jason Ballesteros	Pasig City MCW Sports
Rookie of the Year	Adrian Nocum	San Juan Knights
Homegrown Player of the Year	Cris Masaglang	GenSan Warriors
Most Improved Player	Jhan Nermal	Bacoor City Strikers
Impact Player of the Year	Poypoy Actub	Imus SV Squad
Coach of the Year	Dennis Pineda	Pampanga Giant Lanterns
Executive of the Year	Manuel Carlos Ilagan Jr.	Bataan Risers
Sportsmanship award	Jay-R Taganas	Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards

Players of the Week

This is the first season in which the league awarded the Player of the Week award during the playoffs, during which it is called the Playoffs Performer of the Week. It is only given out during the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Notable events

August 8, 2023 – The Bataan–Laguna game was forfeited in Bataan's favor, marking the first time in league history that a game was forfeited in its entirety.
September 17, 2023 – Over 30 MPBL players were drafted during the PBA season 48 draft, a big increase from the seven drafted in Season 47. Nueva Ecija's Kemark Cariño was the first MPBL player and first local player drafted, picked 13th overall by the Terrafirma Dyip during the second round.

Junior MPBL tournaments

The league's youth-oriented counterpart, the Junior MPBL, began its inaugural 2023 season on July 9, 2023 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan. The following tournaments took place during the 2023 professional season.

Age Group	Division	Champion	Series	Runner-up
14-Under	North	Mindoro Junior Disiplinados	2–1	Quezon City 828 Junior Giants
14-Under	South	Cavite City Aces Solar	2–1	Leyte XUR Homes
14-Under	Overall	Cavite City Aces Solar	2–0	Mindoro Junior Disiplinados
16-Under	North	Quezon City 828 Junior Giants	2–1	Pampanga Giant Lanterns
16-Under	South	Davao Red Cubs	2–1	Bauan Cafe Uno
16-Under	Overall	Davao Red Cubs	2–0	Quezon City 828 Junior Giants
18-Under	North	Mandaluyong Junior Microsmith	2–1	Rizal Switch Fiber
18-Under	South	Davao Red Cubs	2–0	Bauan Cafe Uno
18-Under	Overall	Mandaluyong Junior Microsmith	2–1	Davao Red Cubs

Media

This season marked the second year of Cignal TV's ongoing television broadcast rights with the league. Carrying over from the previous season, games were also broadcast on One PH and One Sports+, the latter was only used for the Invitational tournament. Since April 13, Media Pilipinas TV began broadcasting all games.
This season saw an expansion of the league's streaming portfolio. Cignal's Pilipinas Live began streaming games in June 2023, while Bola.TV began in August 2023. The league continued to broadcast its games on Facebook, YouTube, and Cignal Play.