Maurice Shaw will once again wear the colors of NLEX after Blackwater traded him to the Road Warriors last Thursday.
But if the Elite only drafted the 36-year-old Filipino-American big man back in 2019, and he did not enter the PBA D-League, when did Shaw playing for NLEX take place?
Back in 2017, the Basketball Association of Singapore invited the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to join the Merlion Cup.
At first, the invitation went to the Cignal HD Hawkeyes as it was coming off a successful campaign in the D-League Foundation Cup. However, Boyet Fernandez had to turn it down as the NCAA season was also ongoing.
So the SBP took some of the core of the Hawkeyes and merged them with players from one of its sister teams SCTEX, which competed in the Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League in 2016. It then had the name NLEX-SCTEX Road Warriors.
The players were Jason Perkins, Andreas Cahilig, Oping Sumalinog, Pamboy Raymundo, Toto Villarias, Alfred Batino, Jaypee Belencion, AJ Vitug, Mark Pangilinan, and Harold Arboleda. Meanwhile, calling the shots was Jojo Lastimosa.
The import for the team was Maurice Shaw, whom many thought to be a pure American back then. Shaw, then 31 years old, was playing for Kabayan in Thailand.
NLEX-SCTEX went winless in the campaign. Shaw, on the other hand, averaged 6.67 points and 9.67 rebounds in three games played.
Since then, Shaw had one more stint with a team in Thailand before entering the PBA in 2019. He was selected as the second overall pick in the draft.
The Road Warriors are hoping that Lastimosa, who is an assistant coach for Guiao, could be the whisperer for Shaw, who only saw three games for Blackwater in the PBA bubble.
