Coming off a championship in the Pilipinas Super League, Pampanga will be going all out for the 2023 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League season.
The Giant Lanterns will retain the core of Justine Baltazar, Louie Sangalang, King Caralipio, Kurt Reyson, and Archie Concepcion in their bid to upstage their fourth place in the North finish last season.
Curiously, there are three PBA greats in their 25-man roster — namely Arwind Santos, Alex Cabagnot, and Marc Pingris.
Santos, 41, is currently a player for Northport. Last conference, he played four games.
A native of Pampanga, he has always made it known that he wanted to play under Gov. Delta Pineda before calling it a career.
Meanwhile, Santos’ good pal Cabagnot is also in the lineup. The 40-year-old floor general played 11 games for Terrafirma last conference.
Finally, Pingris, 41, recently resigned as commissioner of the PSL. He was supposed to unretire back in 2021 to play for Nueva Ecija in the then-Chooks-to-Go-backed league but was advised not to do so by the San Miguel Corporation.
Also in the lineup is current Phoenix Super LPG sensation Encho Serrano. In his first year with the Fuel Masters, the DLSU product produced numbers of 10.32 points, 3.68 rebounds, and 1.88 assists per game.
Completing the Giant Lanterns lineup are Raymund Binuya, MJ Garcia, Jap Pambid, CJ Gania, Karl Sampang, Mat De Leon, Jonathan Del Rosario, Jomer Mercado, Ronan Santos, John Capulong, Mitchell Maynes, Earnest Reyes, Jayson Apolonio, Carlo Ferreras, Kevin Santos, and Justine Bautista.
