By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Former NBA skipper and current Jordan naturalized player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson will be making a highly-anticipated return to the PBA and will reinforce the TNT Tropang Giga for the second time in his career.
The recent turn of events was confirmed by TNT team governor Ricky Vargas, announcing that Jefferson will become their final import when the PBA Governor’s Cup kicks off this Sunday.
Initially, the Tropang Giga tapped the services of scorer Darius Days but after they received the word from Jefferson, TNT didn’t think twice and pulled the trigger in arranging his return to the Philippines.
Jefferson already proved that he is a winner after leading the Tropang Giga to the 2022-2023 PBA Governor’s Cup title, defeating Justin Brownlee and the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel during that tightly contested grand finals series.
In that season, the former Brooklyn Nets swingman also bagged the Best Import of the Year award aside from his first-ever PBA title.
After his stint with the TNT Tropang Giga, Jefferson earned the nod of the Jordan national basketball team and was absorbed as their naturalized player for all the internationally sanctioned events.
Jefferson further took the world by storm when he impressed during the FIBA World Cup held in Manila, top-scoring Jordan in all of the games and even got the moniker “Leftie Mamba” with his prolific offensive show.
Despite the accolades that Jefferson had in the past months, this will be a different scenario than his first stint with the Tropang Giga as he will be playing under the system of the returning Chot Reyes.
Also, the Tropang Giga figured in a mini post-season drought after failing to enter the grand finals of the last two conferences of the PBA.
Can Jefferson lead the Tropang Giga back to their glory days and help them return to the PBA Governor’s Cup championship stage this year?
