CHICAGO - In the NBA, teams are required to identify the injury of a player who is placed on the injured list.
That's not necessarily the case in the PBA where San Miguel Beer recently announced that it has replaced import Thomas Robinson without divulging what exactly is wrong with him.
Instead of promoting transparency, the arrival of replacement import Diamond Stone has the suspicious, mysterious feel of a "midnight appointment."
[READ: SMB signs Diamond Stone as Robinson placed on reserve]
To sort out the confusion I attempted to call the San Miguel brass including head coach Leo Austria. Sadly, none of my calls and text messages were answered.
But here's what I found out.
An MRI confirmed that Robinson has indeed sustained a back injury. And this explains why the former No. 5 pick in the 2012 NBA draft hasn't been practicing with the Beermen as of late.
Naturally, management isn't happy with his useless, harmless participation with team activities considering that he is being paid top dollar, plus crazy rich incentives, for a few months work in the Commissioner's Cup.
An international agent familiar with the situation told me that Robinson will likely be sent home in the next few days.
San Miguel can deny that all they want but it doesn't make sense for them to keep paying an injured player who cannot even practice.
Prior to his arrival in the Philippines, a PBA team shared to me the intel that Robinson's stints in Russia and Korea allegedly did not end the merry way.
"Pina-uwi siya," said the source, who alluded to some locker room issues.
In fairness to the Kansas University alum, the 6-foot-9, 237-pound Robinson, whose NBA scouting reports include the nugget that he is super explosive but cannot shoot beyond five feet, turned out to be "a nice guy."
His ill-fated stint with the Beermen is nothing more than just about his health.
GO KAI. GO. Asked to comment about the performance Kai Sotto showed against the Phoenix Suns yesterday, a top NBA agent, whose client list includes multiple All-Stars, sent me this text message.
"Seeing him in any action will help in the long run."
But more work needs to be done, especially on the defensive end of the court.
I, too, was rooting for Kai to do well. And while I was impressed with his court vision and excellent feel for the game, his defense made me look away from the TV set.
He was slow on the pick-and-roll and late on all rotations. These are the very same weaknesses that helped hasten his exit at the G League Ignite in 2021 and prevented him from being drafted in the NBA last June.
Let's all root for Kai to plant our flag in the NBA, but let's also temper our expectations and hold off on the caffeine.
Remember, the Suns-36ers game was an exhibition game that carried the urgency of a fire drill. Kai didn't start and his highlights came when the game was already a runaway.
Also, all the Suns starters were on a minutes restriction with each of them logging only 22 minutes of play.
Look if that were a real game - gun to their heads and the fate of the universe at stake - do you really think the Suns would surrender 134 damn points in their own damn building?
Still, Kai's 11-point effort in 18 minutes is a tremendous feat. Here's hoping he gets precious playing time in the upcoming NBL season in Australia so he can continue to grow as a player and nourish his NBA dreams.
Just saying.
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