Barangay Ginebra won’t be having Justin Brownlee back when the PBA Governors’ Cup resumes in the second week of October.
Coach Tim Cone confirmed that the Gin Kings have tapped Jordan Murphy as a replacement for Riley Grigsby, who played the first six games before the conference went on a long break.
‘Yes, he is our new import. He arrived this morning,’ Cone said in a text reply to Inquirer.
Long-time utility staff member Junjun Atienza posted a selfie with the new reinforcement on his social media page.
The 29-year-old played for the University of Minnesota in the US NCAA Division I from 2015 to 2019 before being left undrafted in the 2019 NBA Draft.
He played for the Iowa Wolves, Austin Wolves, Greensboro Swarm and Mexico City Capitanes in the NBA G-League while having pro stints in Israel and Puerto Rico.
Ginebra is going with Murphy instead of Brownlee, who did not see action this conference, as well as Gilas Pilipinas’ campaigns in the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games due to multiple injuries.
Cone did not address Brownlee’s status when he confirmed Murphy’s signing.
Ginebra went with the change in its bid to improve a 2-4 win-loss record in Group B of the eliminations.
Grigsby averaged 26.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Gin Kings.