MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATED) The TNT Tropang GIGA have acquired Calvin Oftana from NLEX, in a trade that also involves the Blackwater Bossing.
A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed the transaction to ABS-CBN News.
The NLEX Road Warriors will send Oftana and Raul Soyud to the Tropang GIGA in exchange for veteran forward Troy Rosario and sharpshooter Gab Banal.
Both Rosario and Banal will then be traded to the Bossing, in exchange for big man Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and guard Paul Desiderio.
Oftana is coming off a superb campaign for the Road Warriors in the All-Filipino Conference, where he averaged 17.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
He was called up by TNT and national team coach Chot Reyes to Gilas Pilipinas for the recent window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
The trade ends Rosario's seven-year stint with the Tropang GIGA. He was the second overall pick in the 2015 PBA Rookie Draft by TerraFirma (then known as Mahindra), but was traded to TNT just a couple of days later.
Rosario helped TNT win the 2021 PBA Philippine Cup title. He averaged 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in the 2022 edition of the All-Filipino Conference, where the Tropang GIGA lost to San Miguel Beer in the finals.
In November 2021, Reyes revealed that Rosario, along with swingman Roger Pogoy, received offers from teams in Japan's B.League but were convinced to stay.
"The one thing we could offer are the other things. You know, how we are family here, all of those things. And Roger signs, and Troy signs. So we have those two guys for the next three years, they're not going anywhere," Reyes said at the time.
Meanwhile, Ganuelas-Rosser will head to NLEX after just one conference with the Bossing. The 6-foot-6 big man was the first overall pick of the 2022 PBA Rookie Draft.
Because of a hand injury that he sustained in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, Ganuelas-Rosser played just eight games in the All-Filipino Conference. He averaged 11.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
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basketball, PBA, PBA trade, TNT Tropang GIGA, NLEX Road Warriors, Blackwater Bossing, Calvin Oftana