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Barangay Ginebra during the PBA Media Day in Quezon City. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

Barangay Ginebra during the PBA Media Day in Quezon City.

Article (news)

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759044952096viber_image_2025-09-28_15-13-49-017.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Barangay Ginebra during the PBA Media Day in Quezon City. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Barangay Ginebra during the PBA Media Day in Quezon City. <em>Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA -- Barangay Ginebra is moving forward despite key exits from the team ahead of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup. </p><p>As the Gin Kings deal with the departure of LA Tenorio and Jamie Malonzo, the team will also temporarily miss the services of big man Japeth Aguilar, who is recovering after undergoing surgery for his left finger.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/7/31/jamie-malonzo-makes-shock-move-exits-ginebra-to-play-for-kyoto-in-b-league-1744">READ: Jamie Malonzo makes shock move, exits Ginebra to play for Kyoto in B.League</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/basketball/2025/9/6/la-tenorio-bids-barangay-ginebra-goodbye-paalam-sa-jersey-pero-hindi-sa-puso-2130">READ: LA Tenorio bids Barangay Ginebra goodbye — ‘Paalam sa jersey, pero hindi sa puso’</a></div><p>Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone remains optimistic of their chances despite the changes. He said Stephen Holt is already taking on a bigger role for the team in his second season with the Gin Kings.</p><p>&quot;We don&#x27;t have Jamie here anymore, so we&#x27;re feeling that void. And obviously we don&#x27;t have LA, so there&#x27;s a leadership void. I think Stephen&#x27;s [Holt] doing a good job of stepping in that leadership at this point. But these are things you have to overcome,&quot; he told reporters during PBA Media Day.</p><p>Scottie Thompson said they are already feeling the absence of Malonzo, even before the start of the PBA&#x27;s golden season. </p><p>&quot;Although sa practice din nararamdaman na namin yun nga, yung kakulangan, yung nawala sa amin si Jamie. But I think for us right now meron naman kaming guys who can step up, especially a healthy Miah,&quot; he said.</p><p>Thompson believes Jeremiah Gray is one of those players who can fill the gaps. </p><p>&quot;We&#x27;re expecting na more role kay Miah. And of course we&#x27;re praying na healthy siya palagi kasi kailangan namin siya. And may mga players na kailangan mag-step up sa amin,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;I think the whole team should step up. Kasi yung ginagawa ni Jamie sa amin, hindi kaya ng isang tao. So it&#x27;s a total team effort for us,&quot; Thompson explained.</p><p>The seven-time PBA champion is hopeful they stay healthy in the new season.</p><p>Ginebra acquired big man Norbert Torres, who can fill in for Aguilar in the meantime. They also have rookie Sonny Estil, who has the PBA Season 50 Draft Combine most valuable player. </p><p>&quot;We have Norbert. Japeth is gonna be out probably for the next few games. We don&#x27;t know exactly when he&#x27;ll be back,&quot; Cone said.</p><p>The winningest mentor in the league said Aguilar has been needing the surgery on his left finger for over a year.</p><p>Aguilar postponed the surgery until after his tour of duty for Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup. </p><p>&quot;He&#x27;s going alright. He&#x27;s doing well but he&#x27;s not doing basketball activities yet. He can&#x27;t handle the ball yet. So he&#x27;ll be out probably our first game, our second, so we&#x27;ll play it game by game after that,&quot; Cone added.</p><p>The Ginebra coach said he&#x27;s not looking back at the previous season, as they focus on the upcoming season. </p><p>&quot;We were right there. We&#x27;re not too upset where we are as a team at this point. We know we can contend, we know we can compete. I just think that kind of stuff you learn resilience, you learn to keep battling and I think our team will grow from that situations,&quot; Cone said.</p><p>&quot;I think those things that happened to us last season will make our team stronger this season. So I&#x27;m not too disappointed with that,&quot; he shared.</p><p>Cone said there are more emerging contenders in the season-opening Philippine Cup, aside from the usual teams, so they have to be ready.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iRLoTVZDWeQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Barangay Ginebra is moving forward despite key exits from the team ahead of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.</p>

Barangay Ginebra is moving forward despite key exits from the team ahead of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.

PBA: Ginebra optimistic of chances despite Malonzo and Tenorio's exit, Aguilar's injury

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PBA: Ginebra optimistic of chances despite Malonzo and Tenorio's exit, Aguilar's injury

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 29, 2025 09:00 AM PHT

Read More:

abssports

basketball

PBA

PBA Season 50

PBA Philippine Cup

Barangay Ginebra

Tim Cone

LA Tenorio

Jamie Malonzo

Japeth Aguilar

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