It was a brief one-week break in between the recently-concluded Commissioner’s Cup and the Philippine Cup with the PBA back in business last Friday. Commissioner’s Cup finalists TNT and Barangay Ginebra will skip the first seven playdates before returning to action. They’re scheduled to play at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on April 23 with TNT, one jewel shy of bagging a Grand Slam this season, taking on NLEX and Ginebra facing Terrafirma.
Eight of the league’s 12 teams are showing intact lineups from the previous conference. Ginebra, Magnolia, Meralco, NLEX, Phoenix, Rain or Shine, Terrafirma and TNT made no roster changes. Blackwater reloaded with Prince Caperal, BJ Andrade and Troy Mallillin. Converge picked up Rey Suerte, Jackson Corpuz, Jhan Nermal and rookie Ronan Santos. NorthPort added Avan Nava while San Miguel Beer enlisted JM Calma.
The FiberXers are now beefed up by former MPBL Pampanga Giant Lanterns Justine Baltazar, MJ Garcia and Santos. Former Letran Knights Pao Javillonar, Kevin Racal, Jeo Ambohot and King Caralipio are also in the cast. Corpuz, 36, was undrafted in 2014 but has played in seven PBA seasons, leading the league in field goal percentage at .625 in the 2021 Governors’ Cup. Suerte, 30, was the second pick in the 2019 special Gilas draft and had played for Blackwater since 2022. Nermal, 31, saw action in only two outings with NLEX last conference and joined Converge as an unrestricted free agent. Santos, 28, was a 2024 third round pick from Arellano and is a 6-7 power forward who’s familiar with Pampanga Gov. Delta Pineda’s MPBL championship style. Pineda sits on the Converge bench as assistant coach.
Blackwater picked up Andrade in the Suerte trade while Caperal and Mallillin passed tryouts as free agents. Caperal, 31, is a 6-7 stretch forward who was a 2014 second round draft pick from Arellano. He’s suited up for GlobalPort, Barako Bull, Phoenix, Mahindra/Kia, Ginebra and NorthPort in a journeyman career. Caperal came in from Abra in the MPBL. Mallillin, a third round draft pick in 2023, hardly spent time on the floor with San Miguel and it’s his chance to show his wares with the Bossing. Mallillin was a former NCAA Juniors MVP with La Salle Greenhills and jumped to Ateneo from the Archers seniors camp. Nava was San Miguel’s first round draft pick last year but didn’t play in the previous conference where Calma was also missing in action in the Commissioner’s Cup, recovering from an ACL injury.
The tournament format will feature a single elimination round after which the bottom four teams take their exit and the top four gain a twice-to-beat advantage against the next four in the quarterfinals. The semis and finals will be best-of-seven duels. There will be a Holy Week break from April 17 to 22. Zamboanga City will host a game between Magnolia and Phoenix on April 26. Hostilities will end in the third week of July in time for Gilas to regroup for the FIBA Asia Cup starting Aug. 5.