Ricardo Ratliffe, the well-known foreign reinforcement for the Star (now Magnolia) Hotshots in the last two PBA Commissioner’s Cups, has said his farewell to the franchise following his naturalization as a South Korean.
The six-foot-eight power forward, who hails from Virginia and played college ball in University of Missouri in the United States, took to Instagram on Thursday to break the news and express his gratitude to the Hotshots.
“I had a great time with you guys and enjoyed my time in the PBA,” said the 28-year-old in the post.
“I won’t be able to be a part of the Hotshots organization anymore due to my commitment to my contract here in Korea.
“Wish we coulda got a championship together but it’s all good. We gave it all we had. Go get one without me,” he added. “I’ll be watching all ya upcoming games cause you guys have a fan for life in me. Best of luck my brothers!”
Ratliffe started his pro basketball career in South Korea back in 2012 after not being picked in the NBA Draft of the same year. But it was just in 2017 when the Korean national team considered him as a candidate for naturalization.
Now that it has turned into reality, Ratliffe is looking forward to facing his former Hotshots teammates who will be playing for Gilas Pilipinas sometime in the near future.
“Sure I’ll be seeing some of you on the Gilas team,” he said.
“[I] look forward getting up with you guys.“
Ratliffe also took the time to thank the Hotshots fans through the post, who supported him in the two conferences he played for the team. He averaged 32.2 points and 20.8 rebounds in his final stint with Star in 2017.
“And to the fans thank you for all the love and support throughout my stint with the Hotshots,” Ratliffe said. “Continue to embrace your future imports as you did [to] me. You guys make it very easy for us imports to adjust to the PBA.
“All love.”
