IT was a short, uneventful stay at Barangay Ginebra for Dave Murrell.
The former PBA slam dunk champion ended his one conference stint with the Kings, who no longer signed him up for a contract extension.
“He has been released,” was Ginebra coach Tim Cone’s short message on Monday regarding the status of the 6-foot-4 high-flyer.
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Murrell was acquired by Ginebra after previous team Magnolia placed him under the unrestricted free agent list (with rights to salary).
Under PBA rules governing sister teams, the Kings had to wait for five days before being able to sign Murrell as all the teams outside of the San Miguel Corp. umbrella had to waive their rights.
The Kings took an interest in the product of University of the Philippines following the injuries suffered by Jamie Malonzo, Aljon Mariano, and Jeremiah Gray during the Philippine Cup last season.
But the plan didn’t pan out as Murrell played only minimal minutes in eight games during the season-ending conference, where the Kings bowed out in the semifinals after their Game 7 loss to the Meralco Bolts.
Murrell was the 20th overall pick in the second round by NLEX in the 2021 draft, but was initially placed in its PBA 3x3 team Cavitex before joining the Road Warriors’ 5-on-5 team during the Governors’ Cup where he suited up for just four games.
The following season, he was acquired by new team Converge for a future rookie pick.
With the FiberXers, Murrell thrived under the system of coach Jeff Cariaso, only to be stymied later on when Cariaso was replaced by Aldin Ayo.
Two conferences later, the Fil-Am again found himself on the move as he was packaged by the FiberXers along with Abu Tratter in a trade with Magnolia for guard Adrian Wong and a first-round pick in Season 48 draft.
Under a stacked Magnolia roster that had the likes of Calvin Abueva, Aris Dionisio, and Joseph Erioubu, Murrell failed to crack the Hotshots’ rotation and was eventually relegated to the UFAW2 list.
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