Rumor has it that Encho Serrano and Arwind Santos are headed to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to play for the Converge Fiberxers, a team connected to Governor Delta Pineda. Serrano and Santos both played for the Pampanga Giant Lanterns which recently won the championship in the recently concluded MPBL season.
Jacob Lao, Converge team manager, however, belied the rumor. According to him, Converge will not be able to sign these two players considering that their playing rights belong to other teams.
Encho Serrano last played for the Phoenix Fuel Masters franchise who now hold his playing rights in perpetuity. Serrano declined a two-year contract with the Fuel Masters then signed with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the MPBL. In the case of Arwind Santos, he last played for the Northport Batang Pier. Accordingly, the Batang Pier holds his playing rights.
Unless the Fiberxers are willing to buyout the rights over Serrano and Santos, we may see Serrano and Santos for a long time in the MPBL. That would definitely be a big boost for the MPBL since Serrano has been playing very well alongside Justine Baltazar.
Encho Serrano normed 15.9 points at an efficient clip of 42.4% field goal. On top of that, he also added 3.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 0.9 steals per game. His partnership with Justine Baltazar and other young guns in the Pampanga Giant Lanterns squad proved lethal as the Lanterns dominated the league with a 26-2 records in the elimination and an unbeaten streak in the entire playoffs.
Nonetheless, Encho Serrano is still young and he has much to offer to any team that he will play with. It would be much better for him if he can get a contract in Japan or in South Korea. In the meantime, we are excited to see Encho Serrano return for another shot at the MPBL Title.