WHILE most teams in the Philippine Basketball Association opted to take in familiar imports, Alaska has decided to tap a fresh face as its reinforcement in the upcoming Governors’ Cup.
The Aces acquired the services of inside operator LaDontae Henton to be their import for the third conference.
The former Providence Friar is a 6’6” known scorer who operates and plays from the inside, something that Alaska seems to be lacking.
He averaged 19.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in his four-year stint with Providence from 2011-2015, before going undrafted in the 2015 National Basketball Association Draft.
Henton last played for Baloncesto Sevilla in Spain.
While Alaska’s reinforcement last year, Romeo Travis, had a splendid campaign and even won the Best Import Award, the Aces still felt that they need to go on a different direction.
San Miguel’s 4-0 sweep of Alaska in last year’s Governors’ Cup finals may have been a deciding factor for the Aces’ management as to why it decided against bringing Travis back for a possible second tour of duty.
With Henton in tow, the Aces are looking to ride him and aim on finally ending their unfortunate losing streak in the finals and their three-year title-drought.
In the season-ending tournament that starts on July 15, eight out of the 12 teams opted to have familiar faces as their imports.
The teams with imports who have played for at least one PBA team in the past are NLEX (Bill Walker), Star (Marqus Blakely), San Miguel (AZ Reid), Blackwater (Eric Dawson), Meralco (Allen Durham), GlobalPort (Dominic Sutton), Rain or Shine (Dior Lowhorn) and Barangay Ginebra (Paul Harris).
Along with Alaska (Henton), Talk ‘N Text (Jason Maxiell) and Mahindra (James White) are the other teams with new imports. Phoenix is yet to name an official import.
