Ray Parks and TNT have already put the past behind them, it seems.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said that Tropang Giga governor Ricky Vargas simply gave his approval for the young star to play in the Japan B.League.
“Kausap ko si Chairman kahapon. Sinabi niya pinapayagan niya si Bobby Ray Parks na maglaro sa Japan. ‘Yun lang,” he said in a virtual presser Saturday.
Parks previously drew the ire of TNT’s top brass, particularly owner Manny V. Pangilinan, about his decision to skip the season.
Last March, the 28-year-old announced via social media that he would not see action in this year’s cage wars to attend to family matters.
But then, the business magnate did not buy any of that. He even took to his personal Facebook account to question his reasoning.
Vargas, the league chairman, then brought Parks’ move to board level, which added another case for the study group to tackle.
But all’s well that ends well, as they say, and that seems to be the case between the ball club and the second-generation cager.
Marcial said that the entire process began with the B.League writing to the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, who then reached out to the PBA.
The league communicated with TNT, added the fourth-year league chief, and the team gave its full blessing.
“So ganun ang nangyari,” said Marcial.
Parks’ situation went much smoother than Kiefer Ravena’s, whom the league initially did not allow to play for Shiga. The PBA instead told him to honor his contract with NLEX.
Ravena eventually received clearance to play, granted that he would finish the 2021 Philippine Cup first before flying to Japan.
What the B.League did for Parks is similar to other leagues abroad when trying to acquire talents, according to Marcial.
“Sa lahat ng asosasyon, sa lahat ng liga, ganun ang proseso,” he said.
“Kung kukuha ka … Halimbawa Japan, kukuha sa Lebanon, Lebanon susulat sa kanilang NSA (national sports association), NSA susulat sa team.
“Ganun ang proseso sa lahat. Hindi lang sa Pilipinas,” he closed.
