MANILA – TNT KaTropa added more firepower to its roster with the acquisition of three-point gunner Michael Digregorio from Blackwater Elite in exchange for veteran Brian Heruela.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial approved the one-on-one player-swap transaction between the KaTropa and the Elite. Both teams struck the deal last week.
Digregorio will be playing for his third team since he was picked 35th overall by the Mahindra Floodbusters (now known as the Columbian Dyip) in the 2015 PBA Rookie Draft.
Digregorio is expected to be a huge boost for the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup league leader KaTropa. He will join fellow outside gunners Roger Pogoy, Jeth Troy Rosario, Samboy de Leon, Almond Vosotros, Ryan Reyes, and Celedonio Trollano.
Meanwhile, it will be a homecoming of sorts for the Cebuano Heruela with the team that drafted him 26th overall in the 2014 draft. He also played and won championships with San Miguel Beermen.
Heruela will also provide veteran presence and toughness to the backcourt of the skidding Elite and will play alongside fellow veteran Mike Cortez and youthful Angelo Alolino and Diego Dario.
Meanwhile, the PBA Commissioner’s Office rejected the trade between the Elite and Meralco Bolts where Allein Maliksi and Negrense Raymar Jose will go to the Bolts, while Chris Michael Tolomia, Rommel Canaleta and a future second round pick will head to Elite.
Sources told Panay News the PBA thumbed down the trade deal; it deemed that it would be unfair on the part of the Elite./PN
