By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Ginebra nabbed a major Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) star in a 4-player trade with NorthPort that was approved by Commissioner Willie Marcial on Tuesday.
Stanley Pringle will now don the colors of the Barangay after the Batang Pier traded him there for three players, namely Kevin Ferrer, Jervy Cruz, and Sol Mercado.
Pringle was spectacular last season for NorthPort, finishing runner-up to San Miguel’s Junemar Fajardo in the Most Valuable Player race.
However, the combo guard’s season has been shortened by a successful surgery that removed bone spurs in his ankle, limiting him to just two games so far in the ongoing Commissioner’s Cup.
Meanwhile, Ferrer and Cruz will reunite with their college coach, Pido Jarencio, at NorthPort.
Both starring for University of Santo Tomas during their playing days in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, Cruz helped the team capture the 2006 men’s basketball title, right on Jarencio’s first season as head coach then.
Ferrer, on the other hand, played under Jarencio in his first three seasons with the Growling Tigers straight from his stint with their junior counterparts, the Tiger Cubs, eventually making back-to-back finals appearances in 2012 and 2013.
Mercado, on the other hand, will be making his third PBA stint with the NorthPort franchise after playing with the club formerly known as GlobalPort in the remainder of the 2013 season and for only a few games in the 2015 Philippine Cup.
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