Ginebra has found a substitute for the banged up Justin Brownlee ahead of the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup that commences this Friday.
Sources told Tiebreaker Times that the Kings have come to terms with young pro Riley Grigsby to be their reinforcement for the season-ending tourney while their resident import treads the road to recovery due to a slew of leg injuries.
It remains to be seen, though, if Grigsby will be their import for the rest of the conference or if he’ll only be pinch-hitting for Brownlee until he heals.
Now the league’s only 7-time champion import, the 38-year-old was supposed to lead the traditional contenders’ charge in the conference they have conquered for four times since 2016, but the team deemed it best to rest him up.
It was exactly the reason why Gilas Pilipinas sat him out in their final game of the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers last Monday, in which they absorbed a 92-49 defeat to Australia in Perth.
“Justin Brownlee will miss the game against Australia due to hamstring strain and peroneal tendinopathy on his right leg and left knee swelling and cartilage defects,” the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas said in a statement last July 5.
Brownlee, for starters, has been nursing a hamstring injury since the Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals versus Phoenix, but chose to play through it to lead Ginebra to the crown by ousting TNT in seven games.
However, the wear-and-tear has proven to be more difficult to handle this time around, compelling head coach Tim Cone and his deputies to look out for another import to give the naturalized winger all the time he needs to recover.
Their search ended in Grigsby, a 26-year-old forward who most recently played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA G-League.
A full D1 scholar at Seattle University, the California-born cager first competed in FIBA 3×3 before joining AB Contern of the Luxembourg Basketball League for the 2024-25 season, and then headed to the G-League months later.
He started his 2025-26 campaign with the Santa Cruz Warriors before joining the Skyforce to conclude his first foray in the developmental league.
Listed at 6-foot-5 according to some profiles online, Grigsby is expected to land in Manila soon, and should be good to go for the Kings’ conference debut against Phoenix on July 19, Sunday, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Barangay are drawn in Group A of the upcoming tilt along with the Fuel Masters, Magnolia, Rain or Shine, Meralco, Blackwater, and Macau.
