Meralco will be leaning on reinforcements that boast of Basketball Champions League (BCL) experience as it goes up against Asia’s best in Dubai.
The Bolts on Wednesday announced that they have acquired the services of Jordon Varnado, Glynn Watson Jr., and John Egbunu for the BCL Asia 2025.
Initially targeting prolific scorer Myles Powell, the reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions will instead have a troika of imports in an attempt to make noise in the continent’s highest club competition set on June 7-13 in the Emirati city.
Coach Luigi Trillo and his staff clearly went for a set of players that could take good care of crucial positions, with Egbunu expected to patrol the paint — something they badly need with Brandon Bates not joining the trip.
Listed at 6’11”, the 28-year-old Nigerian played for Israel’s Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem back in the 2022 BCL before joining Turkish side Gaziantep in the FIBA Europe Cup the next year, where he normed 9.2 points and 6.4 rebounds.
The former Florida Gator, who also has NBA G-League and CBA experiences under his belt, most recently played for Napoli Basket in Italy.
Varnado, on the other hand, is set to be the Bolts’ winger. Measured at 6’6″ as per his profiles online, the Tennessee-native is actually fresh off a stint with the Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola of Greece in the 2024-25 BCL.
In 13 games, the 28-year-old posted per-game averages of 10.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists, helping his side reach the Round of 16.
And like Egbunu, Varnado also played in the FIBA Europe Cup in 2020 for Hungarian team Egis Kormend, where he was one of their major contributors with 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in the 11 games he played.
Watson, lastly, serves a solid boost to Meralco’s backcourt. The 6’0″ playmaker has competed at FIBA’s highest club competition as he played for Telekom Baskets Bonn in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore back in 2023.
He was one of their best players with norms of 14.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 5.7 assists and helped bring the German club all the way to the Final before settling for a runner-up finish behind Brazil’s Sesi Franca.
So solid was Watson that Bonn kept him for the 2024 BCL, where he posted 12.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists as they went as far as the quarterfinals.
Watson, a former Nebraska Cornhusker, is coming off a stop in France where he suited up for the Basket Club Maritime Gravelines-Dunkerque.
The Bolts are drawn in Group B of the BCL Asia 2025 with FIBA WASL-Gulf League champions Shabab Al Ahli and B.League winners Utsunomiya,
Meralco will commence its campaign on June 7 against Shabab Al Ahli at 10:00 PM (Manila time) before facing the Brex the following night.
