After six years, Jimmy Alapag is back in the PBA.
The former PBA Most Valuable Player has been named the new head coach of NLEX, beginning with the 2026 PBA Governors’ Cup.
The appointment was announced Monday evening at the Meralco Center in Pasig, with Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, NLEX team governor Ronald Dulatre, and MPTC president Joey Lim present during the signing ceremony.
Alapag takes over from veteran mentor Jong Uichico, who guided the Road Warriors for five conferences and led the team to the quarterfinals in four of them.
The 47-year-old also becomes the fourth head coach in NLEX franchise history.
Alapag spent his entire PBA playing career under the MVP Group, suiting up for TNT from 2003 to 2015, where he won six championships and established himself as one of the league’s greatest point guards.
He concluded his playing career with a one-season stint for Meralco.
In a surprising move in 2017, Alapag crossed over to the San Miguel Corporation camp, taking over as head coach of San Miguel Alab in the ASEAN Basketball League.
During the pandemic, he returned to the United States, first serving as an assistant coach for the NBA G League’s Stockton Kings before earning a promotion to player development coach with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, where he remained through last season.
Now, Alapag comes full circle.
After building his coaching résumé overseas and in the NBA ranks, he returns to the MVP Group to lead its third PBA franchise, this time as the man in charge of the Road Warriors.
