Basketball players Dwight Howard (on screen) speaks via a video link during a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday. CNA photo June 19, 2024

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Former NBA players Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook will play together for the Taiwan Mustangs in The Asian Tournament (TAT), a newly formed league, starting in July.

Howard, who is now part owner of the Mustangs after playing with the Taoyuan Leopards in the T1 League during the 2022-2023 season, said during a video conference Wednesday that he will return to the court in Taiwan with the Mustangs in July, and his former teammates Cook and Cousins will join him.

The eight-time NBA all-star had previously said on social media that he has become one of many shareholders in the TAT league and a player and part owner of the Mustangs, and indicated he would be recruiting other NBA stars to play in Taiwan.

He said in that post that Cook would join him on the Mustangs, but it was not until Wednesday that he confirmed Cousins, who led the Taiwan Beer Leopards to the 2023-2024 T1 League championship, would also be part of the team.

Howard and Cook were part of the 2019-2020 Lakers championship squad, and Cousins also signed to play on the team, but his season was derailed after he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in an off-season pickup game in August 2019.

The Asian Tournament follows the Asian Basketball League (ABL) as the latest attempt to create a Pan-Asian basketball league. The ABL was launched in 2009, but it did not survive the travel restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The TAT Taipei round of games will be held July 26-Aug. 1 at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, with tickets to go on sale at noon on June 22.