By Joel Orellana
THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) on Thursday approved a pair of trades both involving Mahindra.
The Floodbuster, the new moniker of the squad of acting coach Chris Gavina, traded Paolo Taha to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel for Dennice Villamor and Franklin Bonifacio.
But the biggest deal came in the three-team deal among Mahindra, Star and San Miguel Beer, which saw RR Garcia joining the already deep Beermen.
The first step came when the Floodbuster acquired the rights over Garcia and Alex Mallari for Aldrech Ramos, as well as Mahindra’s second-round pick in next year’s draft.
But Garcia didn’t stay long with the Floodbuster and was sent to San Miguel Beer along with Keith Agovida—while Mahindra acquired Ryan Araña and the Beermen’s first-round pick in 2018.
When the smoke cleared, Mahindra ended up with Mallari, Araña and a future first-round selection; Star gained the sweet-shooting forward Ramos and a future second-round pick; and the Beermen got Garcia, who just signed a two-year maximum extension with Star, and the seldom-used Agovida.
The BusinessMirror broke Garcia’s transfer to San Miguel Beer to allow Star to make room for Jiovanni Jalalon.
JR Quiñahan and GlobalPort, meanwhile, finally came to terms after weeks of standoff for his new contract.
The burly center signed a two-year deal worth P9.84 million on Thursday with Batang Pier, who previously offered a lower deal for the former University of Visayas center.
Quiñahan was traded by Rain or Shine to GlobalPort for Anthony Washington on October 13 but the other half of the “Extra Rice Inc.” tandem—the other being Beau Belga—did not immediately agree with the offer of his new team.
Batang Pier initially offered a P380,000 monthly salary for Quiñahan in his first year and P400,000 on the second year. Quiñahan reportedly wanted a two-year maximum deal of P420,000 a month.
Danny Espiritu, Quiñahan’s agent, said the two parties finally agreed to the new deal with the 6-foot-7 center expected to receive P400,000 monthly on his first year and P420,000 in the final year of his contract.
Quiñahan, originally drafted by Alaska in 2007, won two titles with the Elasto Painters and teamed up with Beau Belga to give Rain or Shine a formidable frontline under Head Coach Yeng Guiao, thus the moniker “Extra Rice Inc.”
Guiao moved to NLEX while Belga inked a three-year maximum deal worth P15.12 million.
The 32-year-old Quiñahan had a career-best 11.7 points average last season to go along with his 4.9 boards and 1.8 assists per contest.