The Negrense gunner is finally back on the hard court.
After years of not playing, James Yap will see action again for the Rain or Shine and the Philippine Basketball Association. He formally signed a one-conference contract with the Elasto Painters on Friday morning.
The native of Escalante City, Negros Occidental was offered a one-year deal, but he opted to sign for one conference only. Yap says that he will do his best to balance basketball and public service.
At 40 years old, Yap returns to competitive basketball after taking a leave in late 2021 to focus on his political career, where he won a councilor seat in San Juan City.
He has been training with the Painters since late last year but was only able to land a contract ahead of the 2022-2023 PBA season-ending conference.
This will also be the first time that Yap is to be handled by Painters head coach Joseller “Yeng” Guiao in the PBA. They had a coach-player partnership twice at the national men’s basketball team.
Meanwhile, San Miguel Beermen shipped Ilonggo gunner Paul Zamar and a future second round pick to NorthPort Batang Pier in exchange for Allyn Bulanadi.
Zamar, a former University of the East Red Warriors star, was supposed to sign with the Bossing and was already practicing with the team following the expiration of his contract with the Beermen at the end of 2022.
But a PBA rule where a player with expired contracts and who have yet to get an offer from their respective mother ballclub need to wait for at least 30 days before signing with the teams they want to play for.
The Ilonggo cager is expected for heavy playing time and will be the fourth Western Visayas-based player joining fellow Ilonggo Juan Paolo Taha and Bacolodnons Jeffrei Chan and LA Revilla.IMT Sports
