Despite trading stars in offseason, Ginebra remains a formidable team in PBA Season 49

Here’s a team that underwent some major changes in the offseason.

Ginebra made a shocking move days before the PBA Season 49 Draft, letting go of former Best Player of the Conference Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle, as well as the no. 10 overall pick, in a trade with Terrafirma.

That does not make Ginebra any less formidable, though.

In the same deal, Ginebra got younger with Isaac Go, Rookie of the Year frontrunner Stephen Holt, and the no. 3 overall pick which turned out to be the coveted spitfire guard RJ Abarrientos.

[RELATED STORY: New look for these PBA stars after blockbuster trades]

The new Kings showed a lot of promise in Ginebra’s thrilling 91-87 win against New Taipei Kings in an exhibition match in the Macau International Basketball Club Challenge last Juy 31 .

[ALSO READ: Ginebra survives New Taipei Kings in thrilling exhibition match in Macau]

Here’s how the team looks in the upcoming PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup:

Holdovers:

Maverick Ahanmisi

Jeremiah Gray

LA Tenorio

Scottie Thompson

John Pinto

Ralph Cu

Von Pessumal

Jayson David

Raymond Aguilar

Japeth Aguilar

New guys:

Isaac Go

Stephen Holt

Benedict Adamos

Paul Garcia

RJ Abarrientos

Import:

Justin Brownlee

Outlook:

A big blow for Ginebra is the absence of Jamie Malonzo, who is still recovering from a calf injury. 

But with a proven-and-tested triangle offense under arguably the GOAT PBA coach in Tim Cone and with naturalized Filipino Justin Brownlee in tow, it seems the Gin Kings are alright.

History suggests players new to the said offense will take a while to get a full grasp of it. But once they do, well, history also suggests that championships will follow.