MANILA – Negrense veteran James Yap of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters is on the road of being in the top 10 all-time scoring ladder of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) once its Philippine Cup resumes from hiatus.
The Escalante City-native is currently placed in the 12th spot of the ladder behind retired cager and former University of the East (UE) star Jerry Codiñera.
Yap, 38, has currently registered a total of 10,792 points for his name after dropping an average of 11.4 marks per outing last season. The Negrense sniper now requires 76 points to overtake Codiñera’s No. 11 seat.
For the two-time PBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) awardee Yap to unlock the top 10 all-time scoring stage, meanwhile, he will need to drop 927 points – ousting another former UE fellow Allan Caidic.
Apart from the Negrense, San Miguel Beermen forward Arwind Santos is also on a quest to achieve a feat this 2020 PBA season. Santos, who has a total of 9,334 points, is just less than 700 points away from becoming the 16th member of PBA’s elite 10,000-point club.
The former Far Eastern University Tamaraws forward has a great chance to accomplish the mission as he is expected to deliver a huge offensive role sans star teammate June Mar Fajardo due to an injury.
Santos, a one-time PBA MVP winner, started strong in PBA Season 45’s opening on March 8 by pouring 18 points in SMB’s 94-78 conquest of the Magnolia Hotshots.
For his part, Mark Caguioa of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings still has a chance of levelling up his rank in the top 15 all-time scoring list.
Currently owning the 15th spot with 10,071 points in possibly his final season of professional basketball, he will need to double the effort to overtake No. 14 Francis Arnaiz (10,292) and No. 13 Benjie Paras (10,376).
The 40-year-old Caguioa only played sparingly last season and finished with a total of 65 points./PN
