BARANGAY Ginebra has tapped former NBA G League forward Riley Grigsby as its temporary import at the start of the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup.
He will be manning the post while Justin Brownlee, who’ll be out for more than a month due to multiple injuries, is recuperating.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone said the 26-year-old Grigsby has “good recommendations from his former coaches.”
“Big body. Can play in or out. Good recommendations from his former coaches,” Cone told The Manila Times in a Viber message as he is currently in Las Vegas, Nevada for the annual NBA Summer League.
Listed at 6’6”, the former Seattle University standout played for the Santa Cruz Warriors and the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League.
Cone said the American wingman is already in Manila and will have ample time to get himself acquainted with the Ginebra system before making his PBA debut on July 19 when the team goes up against Phoenix at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Grigsby is coming in as a replacement for the 38-year-old Brownlee, who is recovering from multiple injuries in his hamstring, leg and knee.
The four-time PBA Best Import played through these injuries last week with Gilas Pilipinas, which engaged New Zealand in a neck-and-neck battle before falling shorten double overtime, 106-102, in window 3 of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers in Auckland.
Brownlee then missed the game against powerhouse Australia where the Philippines got beaten badly, 92-49, in Perth.
Cone said Brownlee will miss at least the Gin Kings’ first month of competition in the season-ending conference as he recovers from the injuries.
After Phoenix, Ginebra faces Blackwater (July 22), Rain or Shine (July 26), Meralco (July 31) and Magnolia (Aug. 2), the Bossing (Aug. 9) and the Bolts (Aug.14), before the league takes a break to allow Gilas Pilipinas to resume its training in time for the second round of the Asian Qualifiers set to start on Aug. 27.
The Ginebra mentor, however, said that once Brownlee is cleared to play, he will be swinging back to PBA action.
“Justin will play when he is deemed ready,” Cone said.
It is also not clear if Brownlee can play for Gilas Pilipinas in August, said Cone, who is also the head coach of the Philippine men’s basketball team.
Ginebra, meanwhile, is coming off a championship in the Commissioner’s Cup, dethroning TNT in an epic seven-game Finals battle last month.
The last time Ginebra topped the Governors’ Cup was in the 2021 season.
The Tropang 5G will be out to defend their Governors’ Cup title for Season 50 and this time, Darius Days will be their import.
