BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone believes Greg Slaughter will not be retiring from basketball for good following his decision to take a sabbatical.
Cone said he expects the Gin Kings' former No. 1 draft pick to return to the PBA eventually after the Ginebra big man indicated that he will take a break for "three to four months."
“I don’t think he’s out forever,” said Cone during the PBA Media Day on Thursday at the Okada. “I don’t think he is retiring. I think he really needs to take a mental break.”
The league's tallest player at a shade below seven feet, the Ginebra center took to social media to announce he's taking a break from basketball after his contract expired with Barangay Ginebra after 2019.
Cone said Slaughter indicated his desire to take a break during the exit meeting after winning the championship in the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup.
“It was more at that time, a consideration. But he said, I like to take a break for three or four months. This was literally two days after the championship. And we went into the meeting, I met with all the players … I have all these things prepared to talk about,” said Cone.
Cone admitted he was surprised at first when Slaughter brought up his intention to take a sabbatical.
“When I walked into the room with Greg, first thing he said was I’m going to take a break. That was our conversation. We didn’t get anything else done but that conversation. That’s the true honest story on what happened,” said Cone.
“I did know about it and he did mention three to four months at that time. I wasn’t sure if he is going to go through with it. And then, he went back to the States and then he sent the text,” said Cone, referring to the Instagram post.
“I texted him and he basically confirmed what he had tweeted.”
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