CHICAGO -- The talent leak continues to squirt and the PBA is about to lose another star player to the Japan B.League next year.
This time, it's Matthew Wright, multiple sources told Spin.ph.
A max player, Wright's contract with Phoenix Super LPG expires in August 2022, the same time the Japan B League season starts.
That's not a coincidence. That's kismet, destiny.
Phoenix team manager Paolo Bugia told me in a phone interview that he will try to make contact with Wright's agent, Marvin Espiritu, in hopes of ironing out an extension.
"We want to keep him. He means so much to our team. He is very good and so competitive even in practice, board games and darts. He has that Mamba mentality," said Bugia, a former Alaska Ace and an Ateneo Blue Eagle through and through.
But Bugia is also realistic that Phoenix may not be able to match the tsunami of money hurtling from Japan.
With a contract offer of at least $30,000 a month, sources told me, Wright's enticing deal is three times more than what any PBA team can pay him legally under the league's own salary cap memo.
Engaged with two boys, Matthew, now 30, would be foolish to stick around the PBA for less cash. He'd have to have a disdain for money and a better life to decide otherwise.
"He will be a star out there in Japan," said Blackwater head coach Ariel Vanguardia, who recruited Wright from St. Bonaventure University in the U.S. to play for the Wesports Dragons in Malaysia, where they won a title in 2016.
"Matthew is a franchise player," Vanguardia added. "That's why we really chased after him when I was with Phoenix. And he is more mature now, not just a scorer."
MERALCO BOLTS ASSISTANT COACH CHARLES TIU, WHO MENTORED MATTHEW WRIGHT AT MIGHTY SPORTS FIVE YEARS AGO, AGREES.
"Good guy. Good attitude. Great competitor."
The runway is clear, Matthew Wright is ready for take-off.
And his flight to Japan is expected to be turbulence-free because unlike the MVP group and SMC teams, which tend to be too clingy and manifest separation anxiety issues when a player leaves, Phoenix is more pragmatic and low-key.
An MVP-caliber type player for NorthPort, another independent team, should have the same hassle-free departure when his time comes sometime next year, sources also told SPIN.ph.
Japeth Aguilar has been targeted by the B.League with a $45,000-plus a month carrot dangled in front of him. But Ginebra is moving heaven and earth to keep him, applying more pressure than a doctor would do to an open, bleeding wound.
I can only imagine the panic SMC will careen into once the offers for Terence Romeo trickle in.
But that's a column for another day.
A two-time PBA All-Star with a soft touch and mad handles, Wright has been on the radar of several B.League teams for quite some time now.
He fits the mold of Filipino Asian imports who are now thriving in the B.League --- the Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Dwight Ramos and Ray Parks.
As kids these days would say, Matthew Wright just joined the group chat.
GIN TOXIC. The 117-94 beating that Ginebra got at the hands of a tremendously-coached Magnolia Hotshots was an omen of how bad things can spiral for the league's most popular team without Stanley Pringle.
Pringle makes the Ginebra's offense vibrant in ways that only he can without dominating the ball. He also added a mean bite on defense.
Pringle's loss is akin to TNT losing Mikey Williams.
Don’t worry Ginebra fans. I'll pray for you.
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