Nambatac joins TNT
Blackwater has shipped guard Rey Nambatac to TNT in exchange for Kib Montalba, Jewel Ponferada and a future second round pick after the Philippine Basketball Association approved the trade on Tuesday.
The Tropang Giga and Bossing deal has been revised a few times before the league gave its go-signal that will boost TNT’s backcourt ahead of Season 49 unwrapping next month.
Nambatac, a product of Letran, averaged 11.1 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in the Philippine Cup for Blackwater.
TNT, which threw in its second round pick in the 2028 Draft, is looking for a fresh start after a lackluster performance in the previous season.
The Chot Reyes-mentored squad finished eighth in the Commissioner’s Cup.
The Tropang Giga had a better campaign in the season-ending all-Filipino conference emerging fourth after the elimination round.
Nambatac will join other TNT top guards in veteran Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy, Kelly Williams and forward Calvin Oftana.
However, TNT had an early exit in the playoffs, falling prey to Rain or Shine in the best-of-three series that went the full distance.
Nambatac is in his third club in the league since getting selected seventh overall by the Elasto Painter in the 2017 Draft. He was traded to Blackwater February this year for two future picks. His transfer deal needed some revisions with the first proposal shipping him to TNT for Montalbo and a second round pick quashed by the league.
Names of Barkley Ebona, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Paul Varilla were thrown in but also got rejected before the final proposal got the PBA’s nod. Nambatac will join other TNT top guards in veteran Jayson Castro and RR Pogoy, Kelly Williams and forward Calvin Oftana.
Blackwater, on the other hand, has received promising pieces that might get better playing time under its system.
Montalbo averaged 3.4 points and 2.1 assists while Ponferada had 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in the Philippine Cup. With Nambatac gone, the Bossing will bank on Christian David, Troy Rosario RK Ilagan and Rey Suerte to bounce back from a 4-7 win-loss record in the end of season tourney.