PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial said that he has already been notified by the camp of Kiefer Ravena regarding the star guard’s flight to Japan.
NLEX management on Wednesday confirmed that the 27-year-old had left the country to process the necessary requirements in order for him to be able to suit up for the Shiga Lakestars in the 2021-22 B.League season.
The Road Warriors, though, said that Ravena will still return to finish the 2021 Philippine Cup, which resumes possibly next week in Pampanga.
“Yun din ang sinabi sa akin, para makakuha lang daw ng visa,” Marcial told Tiebreaker Times.
“So ang mangyayari doon, magqua-quarantine siya roon. Pagkatapos, one or two days maaayos na niya, balik na siya rito.”
The league last July had approved Ravena’s Japan stint provided that he will complete NLEX’s campaign in the all-Filipino conference. The league opened last July 16 but paused last August 4 due to stricter lockdown measures.
The second-generation cager played in all of the Road Warriors’ first four games of the season. He averaged 15.8 points on 42.3-percent shooting from three alongside 6.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals.
The team expects him to miss a number of games for the MVP-owned ball club due to this Japan trip. He has to undergo a 14-day quarantine in Japan before being able to process the documents for his stint.
The Philippine Cup will likely resume by the first week of September in Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor.
