Competition in the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 will have to wait even if PBA Season 45 gets to restart late in the year.
The PBA Commissioner’s Office, handicapped by the limited activities allowed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, is focused on trying to get the 12 PBA teams to return to training and hopefully return to play by October.
Everything else has been shelved, including the inaugural 3×3 tournament.
“It’s on hold,” said PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro. The event was supposed to help the national cage federation in the hoop discipline which will make its debut in the Tokyo Olympics as a regular sports event.
The PBA earlier had the quartet of Moala Tautua, CJ Perez, Jason Perkins and Chris Newsome represent the country. They ruled the inaugural 3×3 event in the SEA Games in Manila last year.
Tautuaa and Perez were later named to the Gilas 3×3 team that will vie in the Olympic Qualifying Tourney.
“We’re supposed to start the 3×3 this Philippine Cup. Pero probably next year na. We’ll see kung kailan natin ma-i-start,” said Castro.
The PBA 3×3 tournament was conceptualized during the PBA annual planning session. It was recommended by PBA vice chair Bobby Rosales. It would be a stand-alone event run by an executive director under the supervision of the PBA commissioner.