ANTIPOLO — There’s no final decision yet, but Rain or Shine is already looking at possible options to fill in the gaping hole left by the injured Keith Datu.
Head coach Yeng Guiao revealed the news that the Elasto Painters will have to brave through the rest of PBA Season 50 without the emerging big man, who suffered a right patellar tendon rupture in their eventual win versus Phoenix.
“We’re looking at filling up the slot of Keith Datu by next week,” he said shortly after their 105-91 loss to NLEX on Saturday night at the Ynares Center here.
“We’re still looking at our options. Wala pa naman talagang final decision on how we will fill it up,” added the champion bench tactician.
Their options could either be picking up available players from the free agent pool or perhaps entering the trade market, but the likeliest move as of now is to sign their first-round pick of the Season 50 Draft last September 7.
That should be Christian Manaytay, who was one of the two talents they scooped up in the proceedings. The other was Art Roque, but he remains unavailable as he’s still with Letran in the ongoing NCAA season.
The former UST standout, on the other hand, has been practicing with the team after Nueva Ecija got booted out by Pangasinan in their best-of-3 North Division quarterfinal series that went the distance.
“The other option is to sign ‘yung first-round draft pick namin,” Guiao said. “Tutal ang next game namin is Saturday, we will figure that out early this week, Monday or Tuesday, para maihanda namin din for the game in CDO.”
(C) PBA Images
That next match is their November 15 duel against TNT, which Rain or Shine hopes can get it back on track in the Philippine Cup after the defeat to the Road Warriors snapped their four-game winning streak.
Without a doubt, the Elasto Painters truly missed the services of Datu, who was crucial in the aforementioned run and in winning five of their first six games of the conference with solid contributions of 10.0 points and 6.6 rebounds.
But now, all that they can do is figure out ways to fill in the void he left — and pray for a successful surgery, too, as he’s scheduled to go under the knife next week.
“Meron na siyang schedule ng surgery next week,” said Guiao on the latest regarding the third-year pro. “But he’ll be out for the rest of the season.”
It will be a busy stretch ahead for the Rain or Shine brain trust, but their chief think-tank remains steady, believing that they can still be fine as long as Caelan Tiongson and Stanley Pringle return to action soon.
There’s a chance that both men can return from injuries in the Tropang 5G game, although Guiao wouldn’t mind if they can’t yet, since the league will head into a two-week break for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Qualifiers.
“‘Yun ‘yung sinasabi ko rin na time to reset. I’m sure that time, that’s also going to be useful for the recovery of Caelan and Stanley — actually, gusto kong skip na rin nila ‘yung next game just to be ready for that, eh,” he said.
“But it will be up to them. If they feel good on Saturday, we will play them. If they don’t feel good, it’s OK for us to wait until they’re 100-percent,” added Guiao.
#WATCH: “WE ARE STILL LOOKING AT OUR OPTIONS”
Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao says they are working hard to look for a replacement for Keith Datu 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/0myop6Limu
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA50 pic.twitter.com/wCwnGcL8pW
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) November 8, 2025
