Unpaid Clay to play in PBA?

Chris Clay, a top draw in the Metropolitan Basketball Association ( MBA), may realize his dream of playing in the PBA as Sta. Lucia Realty is considering tapping his services in place of import Willie Farley.

Clay offered his services to Sta. Lucia, saying he’s not getting paid by the Pangasinan Waves for three months now.

Sta. Lucia team manager Buddy Encarnado has asked PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino if they could sign up the MBA player as an import in the ongoing PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Bernardino said Clay could be allowed to play in the league as an import but advised the Sta. Lucia management to clear things up first with the MBA and the Pangasinan Waves.

"They (Sta. Lucia management) should get clearance from the MBA and the Pangasinan Waves to avoid some problems later on. Baka may existing contract siya sa MBA, tapos pipirma ng ibang kontrata sa Sta. Lucia, problema iyan," said Bernardino.

If Clay gets his release papers from the Waves, he may start suiting up with Sta. Lucia Sunday when the team plays RP Selecta at the Araneta Coliseum.

The 6-foot-3 Fil-Am guard-forward has applied in the PBA draft prior to the current season and tried out for a berth in the national team bound for the coming Busan Asian Games. He made it to the 30-man national pool but failed to play in the PBA since he could not produce the proper documents proving his Filipino citizenship.

Meanwhile, at the resumption of the Samsung PBA Commissioner’s Cup today, it’s Barangay Ginebra against Coca-Cola in the 7 p.m. lone game at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Tigers hope to bounce back from a sorry loss to the San Miguel Beermen the last time out in a bid to gain a share of second place with the Talk N Text Phone Pals. The Kings are also out to rebound from a loss against the Purefoods Hotdogs nine days ago to make it to the upper half of the leaderboard.

In another development, Bernardino has yet to announce the sanction he would impose on Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao and Sta. Lucia behemoth Marlou Aquino following their postgame verbal confrontation Sunday. The commissioner met the two in separate meetings yesterday but deferred making a decision, saying he will discuss the matter with his staff today.

The PBA chief later met with Talk N Text coach Bill Bayno who was also summoned following his outburst during the Talk N Text-RP-Selecta duel last Tuesday.

The American mentor was thrown out of the game on technical fouls.

Earlier in the day, Red Bull import Tony Lang also met with the PBA commissioner for nearly fighting with Aquino during the Sunday game.