NLEX could play all-Filipino in their PBA Governors’ Cup debut on Wednesday.
As reported by the league’s official website, the Road Warriors may face Blackwater without Jonathon Simmons as the former NBA cager encountered problems securing clearance from his former team in China.
Head coach Frankie Lim bared that the 33-year-old has also received a more lucrative offer to come back to the Chinese Basketball Association, where he’s played in the last two years, most recently with the Shanxi Loongs.
“Meron siyang offer sa China so ang sabi ko, ‘Sige lumarga ka, hanap na lang kami ng iba.’ Baka hindi na lumaro sa Wednesday,” the veteran mentor told PBA.ph.
“Basta we’ll just try and gawan ng paraan.”
NLEX still hasn’t notified the league whether it will play without an import or still play with Simmons, should he gain clearance.
The Road Warriors are coming into the conference with new additions in Sean Anthony and Jake Pascual, which they both acquired from Phoenix after trading Justin Chua and Paul Varilla in a three-team deal that also involved TNT.
NLEX will begin their campaign against a Bossing side that’s welcoming key cogs from injuries such as Baser Amer, Jvee Casio, and Josh Torralba, with forward Troy Rosario probable to return soon as well.
Blackwater has also rehired Shawn Glover as its reinforcement for the season-ending tourney. The Oral Roberts product was the one who helped the club snap out its 29-game losing skid in last season’s Governors’ Cup.
Match is at 3 p.m. at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
