SMBeer may lose 6-9 import to NBA

MANILA, Philippines - San Miguel Beer may need to find an import replacement for its PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign as Arinze Onuaku got a call from NBA following a good showing in the NBA D-League Showcase Cup.

Onuaku, however, has not completely turned his back on San Miguel with his agent saying they will explore on the NBA possibilities first.

“No confirmation yet. We’re awaiting word from his agent. We’ll know within this week,” San Miguel top official Robert Non told The STAR.

The 27-year-old Lanham, Maryland native, No. 1 in the Syracuse all-time list with a .648 field shooting and No. 11 in blocks with 148, had brief stints in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans and the Cleveland Cavaliers before drifting to the D-League.

He’s listed as a 6-foot-9 forward who could have started with San Miguel’s 1-2 punch in Junemar Fajardo and Arwind Santos.

But an NBA call got in the way.

Rain or Shine and Globalport are the latest teams to have signed up imports for the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup that fires off Jan. 27.

The Elasto Painters enlisted Rich “Kareem” Jackson also of Syracuse while Globalport tapped in Calvin “CJ” Leslie of North Carolina State.

A collegiate teammate of Onuaku, Jackson, 25, won Big East second team citations in 2011 but went undrafted in the NBA because of the NBA lockout.   

He played for Team USA in the under-18 Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany in 2006 and led the team with 17.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.

Leslie, 23, was an All-ACC Second Team member in 2012 and made the NBA D-League All-Rookie Third Team with the Idaho Stampede last year.

He joined the D-League after getting only a partially guaranteed contract with the New York Knicks and later waived in 2013.