ANTIPOLO — Talks of a Grand Slam have bogged down anew after San Miguel bowed out of the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals Friday.
The Beermen will have to wait for a while to reignite discussions of achieving the rare feat as their goal of winning a second straight title in the league’s golden season was unmet after losing to the twice-to-beat Rain or Shine.
“‘Yun ang iniisip ng iba: we are the only team that has a chance to get ‘yung sinasabi nating Grand Slam,” reflected head coach Leo Austria moments after their 113-104 defeat to the third-seed at the Ynares Center here.
“But for me, mailap yung Grand Slam dahil every team is trying to beef up their team, and naka-level up na sila in terms of talent.”
The others did beef up their rosters by taking advantage of the unlimited height for imports in his particular midseason joust, with multiple teams such as TNT bringing in 7-footers to equip themselves with walking mismatches.
It worked especially for those who managed to make it to the Final Eight, but the same cannot be said about the PBA’s most successful franchise.
(C) PBA Images
Similar to the past import-laden conferences, SMB struggled to find the right one for itself, having brought in a total of three reinforcements for the conference.
They started with Marcus Lee, but had to replace him with Justin Patton three games into the tourney as the Kentucky alum underwhelmed.
San Miguel seemingly found the answer in the 6-foot-11 former NBA pro, only to be complaining about his professionalism when he went AWOL after their game against, coincidentally, the Elasto Painters, where they lost narrowly.
“I think Patton was supposedly a good fit because we needed somebody to protect the rim–big factor and big import, eh. But we don’t know kung anong nangyari sa kanya. We had to move,” lamented Austria.
His absence left the team with no choice but to play all-Filipino versus Magnolia, where they eventually got beaten–a game which, looking back, proved costly for them as a win could’ve changed the whole arrangement of the Top Eight.
The Beermen, though, got some good news when Bennie Boatwright became available after his team got eliminated early in the 2025-26 KBL season, immediately flying him out to be available in their final elimination push.
And they felt some hope with the Gilas Pilipinas naturalization prospect in tow as the crew closed out the preliminaries with three wins in a row en route to clinching the no. 6 seed with a 7-5 record–and head into the playoffs rolling.
But the road wouldn’t be that long for San Miguel as it bumped into a Rain or Shine side that was no longer keen on giving them any kind of opening.
That left Austria & Co. reflecting on a really tough campaign, and all of them could only pinpoint one thing: Import issues before the conference.
As it turns out, Lee wasn’t their original choice, but rather a “last-minute” acquisition as their first choices, namely Tony Criswell and Darius McGhee, initially committed but encountered unavoidable circumstances.
“We had an import OK na ready na, all of a sudden hindi ni-release ng Dubai. And all of a sudden nagkaroon ng giyera,” he said of Criswell, who was then playing for Al Bataeh Club of Sharjah in the UAE League Basketball.
Austria bared that even Nick Rakocevic was among those they considered upon checking, possibly available players from the Australian NBL, but the former Magnolia reinforcement was with eventual runners-up Adelaide 36ers.
So, they’d settle with Lee instead, “Actually, last-minute si Marcus Lee,” the champion mentor shared. “Cramming na. So ito, pwede na ‘to.”
Of course, they would’ve wanted Boatwright to come on board had there been a chance, but the former USC Trojan was still finishing his contractual obligations with the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus even though they were already out.
He’d eventually come and show the same brand of basketball that made him a favorite during his maiden PBA run, but it wasn’t enough to save SMB.
So, with the season-ending Governors’ Cup barely two months away, the team is hoping to find the best possible import for the third conference.
“Malaking role ang ginagawa ng import, and si June Mar [Fajardo] nagsalita nga eh, na kung maaari sana, wala nang palitan ng import,” Austria said.
And they’re hoping, too, that injuries won’t be that much of an issue as well after June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, and Jericho Cruz felt the wear-and-tear of national team duties in the ongoing FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.
“Short of preparation because the key players, nagkaroon ng injuries. I cannot force them to play hard because I’m after the health of the players,” Austria said.
