Ho Chi Minh City Wings

The Ho Chi Minh City Wings only had one season to prove themselves before the rest of the league caught up, and they used it well. Nguyen Van Hung, known to fans as Vincent Nguyen, was already carrying the ball for a team that had no history to lean on, and by the end of that first campaign in 2016 the Wings were standing in the Vietnam Basketball Association final, beaten only by the Da Nang Dragons. No VBA title has followed since, but the runner-up finish in the club's debut year still marks the high point of its short existence.

The roster since has leaned on a mix of home-grown names and imports brought in to carry scoring load a young league still needed help finding. Nguyen Huynh Hai and Vo Huy Hoan have stayed close to the club's core through the years, while the import list has run through Jeremy Smith, Makinde London, Yevgen Sakhniuk and Tsendiin Munkh-Ochir, each brought in to fill a particular gap on the floor. Erik Olson took charge on the bench for two seasons from 2021, one of the few coaching spells long enough to leave a mark on how the team played.

The Wings wear dark blue and yellow, a scheme that carries over into a home kit built around the navy shade, and they answer to the nickname Second Brother Eagle among their own supporters. Their games against the Saigon Heat carry more weight than any other fixture on the calendar: both clubs draw from the same city, and the meetings between them are known simply as the Saigon Derby. Ho Xuan Huong Sports Hall in District 3 has been their most regular home floor, though the club has also shifted games to the larger Ho Chi Minh City Sports Hall when the occasion called for more seats.

A decade on from that first final, the Wings are still chasing a way back to the top of the VBA table.