The PBL was formed on May 6, 1983, a brainchild of San Miguel Corporation chairman Danding Cojuangco, under its original name the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL).

Eighteen teams joined the 1st SMC-sponsored Invitationals with ESQ Marketing winning its third straight title against a strong Lagerlite crew.

With the tremendous success of the tournament, San Miguel again agreed to be the sole sponsor of the second PABL conference that year, won by Army Jungle Fighters, dubbed as the "Challenge to Champions", Sixteen teams saw action.

The cast included 12 commercial teams and 4 collegiate squads especially the NCAA and UAAP champions, San Sebastian College and University of the East.

The league gained early success with the dominance of the Tanduay Rhum Masters, the arrival of Eric Menk and Asi Taulava, and the holding PBL games at the air-conditioned Makati Coliseum.

Chino Trinidad announced in March 2010 that he would be retiring as commissioner of the PBL and said he would be focusing his career as correspondent of GMA Network.

The agreement was made as dry-run of a proposed "Developmental League", which was initiated by the Philippine Basketball Association, just like NBA's D-League.

Beginning the 2007 season, the PBL games were seen on Basketball TV (a channel of the Solar family of cable networks) after several years of being shown on UHF television station Studio 23.

Games were televised every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 5-9 pm Philippine time plus rebroadcasts on BTV in the wee hours of the morning.