The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) dropped tradition and will go to three different cities for its All-Star Game this season.
Also, the league tinkered with the team format in a manner that it would suit the preparation of the national men’s basketball team that is preparing for two major international tournaments.
Cagayan de Oro will host the first match on April 26 with homegrown Mindanao players facing the Chot Reyes-coached national squad.
The Mindanao team will be handled by Star’s Chito Victolero and is led by Star’s Mark Barroca, Peter June Simon and Rafi Reavis. They will take on three-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel, Terrence Romeo of GlobalPort and Kevin Ferrer of Barangay Ginebra.
The All-Star Game travels to Lucena City on April 28 where the Gilas Pilipinas pool will tackle Beermen coach Leo Austria and veterans Marc Pingris, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Paul Lee and Calvin Abueva.
Playing for Gilas Pilipinas are young guns Matthew Wright, Kevin Ferrer and Allein Maliksi.
Also scheduled for the Lucena City stop are the Obstacle Challenge, Three-Point Shootout and Slam-Dunk Contest.
The All-Stars then goes to Cebu City where the Visayas squad of Coach Tim Cone will be testing the national team. Asia’s best point guard Jayson Castro, Abueva and Troy Rosario clash against the Visayas selection of Fajardo, Romeo and former two-time season MVP James Yap.
The All-Star aims to prepare Gilas for the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Championship in Manila starting on May 12.