Saigon Heat

The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City. Since the 2014 season, the Heat's home games are played at the CIS Arena on the campus of the Canadian International School in District 7. This is the first professional basketball team based in Vietnam.

The Heat currently plays in the VBA, Vietnam's first professional basketball league.

History The Saigon Heat are the first professional basketball team in Vietnam based in Ho Chi Minh City. They were officially announced as a member of the ASEAN Basketball League in October 2011. The team was formed by the Saigon Sports Academy, a multi-sports training academy launched in January 2009 and located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

In their inaugural season, the Heat finished sixth in the ABL with a regular season record of 8–13. The Heat did not qualify in for the 2012 ABL playoffs. The Heat followed up their inaugural season with another disappointing sixth-place finish in an injury plagued 2013 season, highlighted by a twelve-game losing streak.

Thirteen games into the 2014 season, head coach Jason Rabedeaux suddenly died, the main cause of death was traumatic brain injury. Coach Rabedeaux's assistant Anthony Garbelotto was named the new head coach. The Heat finished the season in fourth place, clinching their first ever playoff berth. The Heat were swept 0–2 by the Westports Malaysia Dragons in the 2014 ABL playoffs.

Following the completion of the 2015–16 season, the Heat announced the formation of Vietnam's first professional basketball league, the Vietnam Basketball Association, where they would field a developmental team. The Heat VBA team consists of local players, with several of the ABL side's players being distributed among the other VBA teams for league parity purposes.

Logos

Season-by-season record SeasonCoachRegular season PostseasonWonLostWin %FinishWonLostWin %Result2012Robert Newson07 Jason Rabedeaux86 Combined813 6thDid not qualify2013Jason Rabedeaux418 6thDid not qualify2014Jason Rabedeaux67 Tony Garbelotto34 02 Semifinalists Combined911 4th 2015–16Tony Garbelotto911 4th02 Semifinalists2016–17Tony Garbelotto812 4th02 Semifinalists2017–18Kyle Julius1010 6th02 Quarterfinalists2018–19Kyle Julius1412 5th12 Quarterfinalists2019–20Kevin Yurkus311 10th00 Season cut short due to COVID-192023Matthew Van Pelt113 1st33 Runner-up Totals6598 -413 Best Results: Runner-up

Home arenas Tân Bình Stadium (2012–2013) CIS Sports Arena (2014–present)

2023 roster

Depth chart

Head coaches Robert Newson (2012) Jason Rabedeaux † (2012–2014) Anthony Garbelotto (2014–2017) Kyle Julius (2017–2019) Kevin Yurkus (2019–2022) Matthew Van Pelt (2022–present)

Saigon Heat

Bron en licentie