By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Javi Gomez de Liaño will embark on a new hoops journey after leaving the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
According to multiple reports, de Liaño will be playing as an Asian import in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and officially parted ways with his PBA mother franchise Terrafirma Dyip.
“To the Terrafirma Community. Thank you for the two amazing years that have passed! I am truly grateful for the opportunity of being able to play in the PBA, most especially making it to the playoffs with this franchise,” posted de Liaño on his official Instagram account.
A former first-round pick during the 2022 PBA Rookie Draft, de Liaño entered the league as a known scorer when he was still playing for UP in the UAAP.
However, de Liaño had a rough rookie year with Terrafirma as the franchise began to suffer a streak of playoff droughts that forced them to reshuffle their roster every season.
Eager to break their dark days and finally claim that coveted post-season qualification, de Liaño worked on his game in the off-season and results quickly showed when they made it to the playoffs of the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup.
Despite losing to the no. 1 team San Miguel Beermen in the quarterfinals, Terrafirma still gave them a fight and nearly pulled off the upset when they stole Game 1 to take away SMB’s twice-to-beat advantage.
Unfortunately, the dominant and stacked Beermen squad ran over them in the do-or-die game and won by a double-digit margin.
During his final season with Terrafirma, de Liaño averaged great numbers and tallied 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.
Before declaring for the PBA draft, de Liaño followed the footsteps of his brother Juan and played one season in the Japan B. League with the Ibaraki Robots.
“To the fans, thank you for showing up to our games and cheering us on! To my teammates, thank you for being real ones on and off the court. Our bond will definitely go a long way,” de Liaño added.
