FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann has advised the Japan Basketball Association to resolve issues that exist inside the nation's basketball circles or face greater problems in the future, according to Japanese media reports.
Baumann asked JBA executives during a Tuesday meeting in Tokyo to work on mending the status quo between the National Basketball League (the rebranded Japan Basketball League) and the bj-league, according to news accounts of that meeting, and to clarify which league is officially Japan's legitimate top hoops circuit.
The now-21-team bj-league, which was launched in 2005 as Japan's first professional league, became recognized by the JBA in 2010. But Baumann took exception to bj-league rules, such as a ball-carrying player being able to call a timeout, citing this violates FIBA rules.