Thirdy and Kiefer Ravena, Dwight Ramos, Ray Parks Jr., and Matthew Wright have themselves a little club in Japan's B.League.
There’s a budding club going on in the Japan B.League right now: Filipino imports with at least 1,000 points.
As our local hoop stars continue to settle in overseas, the milestones slowly come, with five players reaching at least 1k points in a matter of one year.
THIRDY RAVENA
The first to make the true jump abroad, Thirdy was also the first to reach 1,000 points in Japan’s top division.
Ravena got the milestone in January 2023 against Hiroshima while playing his third season with San-en NeoPhoenix.
Now in his fourth season, Thirdy has up the ante. He now has 1,710 total points, as he’s averaging a career-high 13.3 points with the NeoPhoenix making a huge jump, sharing Japan’s best record with two-time champion Alvark Tokyo.
KIEFER RAVENA
Less than a month after Thirdy, Kiefer Ravena entered the 1k club with Shiga, ironically doing it against his younger brother in a Lakes win.
Unfortunately, Kiefer’s Lakes got demoted to the second division after his second season and his B1 totals currently stand at 1,252 points.
Fortunately, Shiga looks primed for a B1 re-entry, as the Lakes currently lead the West standings with a 23-7 record, with Ravena averaging 11.9 points and 5.9 assists per game.
DWIGHT RAMOS
Despite a trying Japan stint for Dwight Ramos, one that included a lengthy injury layoff last year and relative lack of team success, the Gilas Pilipinas mainstay remains as one of the most consistent Filipino imports in B1.
And in his second season with Levanga Hokkaido, third overall in the B.League, Dwight reached 1,000 in the penultimate day of 2023, doing so against his former team in the Toyama Grouses.
Dwight is averaging 9.8 points per game this season, which essentially mirrors his career average so far in Japan.
RAY PARKS JR.
Another player that has had to deal with injury time in Japan, Ray Parks Jr. has persisted to also get his 1,000-point milestone in the first weekend of 2024.
In his third season with the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins, Ray has taken a role off the bench and his scoring is a bit down, averaging 7.0 points per game.
Nevertheless, Parks Jr. has been a key cog in the Nagoya operation, averaging double digits in each of his first two B1 seasons, both of which led to playoff appearances for the Diamond Dolphins.
MATTHEW WRIGHT
On the same first weekend of 2024 and exactly one year to the day of Thirdy's initial achievement, Matthew Wright got his 1,000-point milestone with Kyoto Hannaryz.
While he’s the fifth Filipino player to do so, Wright holds the distinction of being the fastest, needing only 80 games to reach 1k.
He also holds the single-game record for all Filipino Asian Quota Players, after he scored 31 points earlier this season against San-en.