Thirdy Ravena signs with San-en NeoPhoenix in Japan’s B.League

Japan’s B.League has grand plans to expand its horizons in Asia - and is hoping that Thirdy Ravena is just the player to open that floodgate.

The five-year-old league officially announced Wednesday that the three-time champion with Ateneo de Manila University will be seeing action for San-en NeoPhoenix for its fifth season.

Ravena is the first player to be joining the B.League by way of the "Asian Player Quotas" instituted in November of last year.

The rule aims to open doors for more and more non-Japanese Asian players to join the B.League to "enhance competition in daily games… and expand business in the Asian market."

As such, the 6-foot-2 swingman would be making history as the Japanese league's first player to sign through "Asian Player Quotas".

The B.League was founded in 2015, but traces its roots to several tournaments organized by Japan Basketball Association, the country's governing body.

A season ago, San-en NeoPhoenix wound up with a 5-36 standing.