By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Man with a Million Moves just shut down retirement rumors circulating in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as he is set to embark on a new journey in his illustrious professional career after signing with the Blackwater Bossing franchise.
It was Blackwater team owner, Mr. Dioceldo Sy, who announced their biggest off-season pickup last February 8, 2024.
After eight years under the Rain or Shine Elastopainters franchise, James Yap officially bade his former squad goodbye and is ready to mentor the young core of his new hoops team.
Despite playing a bench role with the Elastopainters, Yap still showed he still got his offensive game on point after delivering several promising performances for head coach Yeng Guiao.
However, Yap will still be juggling his professional basketball career and his political duties after assuming his post as councilor of San Juan City last May 2023.
Yap was absent during the whole PBA season last 2022 and made his comeback last January when he was signed by the Elastopainters to a one-year contract.
The former Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the league was absent in several outings during his stint with Rain or Shine but is already active in Blackwater after attending their first phase of training camp.
Before taking a break in the PBA, Yap was already a league champion seven times with Purefoods, B-Meg, and the San-Mig Coffee Mixers.
With the winning mentality that Yap had throughout his professional hoops career, the Blackwater management is expecting him to bring that kind of mindset to the team’s locker room.
Yap will be mentoring Blackwater’s core backcourt of Rey Suerte and RK Ilagan as well as Troy Rosario, one of the team’s veteran power forwards.
