Big stars part of long list of contract expirees in the PBA

MANILA, Philippines – By the time the 2007-’08 Philippine Basketball Association season ends, Ginebra will be practically non-existent. The entire cast of the country’s most popular ball club will either have expiring players’ contracts at the end of the conference or players’ contracts that have already ceased, according to documents released by the PBA yesterday. Mark Caguioa, Jay-Jay Helterbrand and Erik Menk are among the 10 Ginebra players whose contracts will end this month. The players whose contracts have already expired include Johnny Abarrientos, Red Aquino, Rodney Santos and Michael Holper. Allan Caidic, assistant coach of the Gin Kings, said that he doesn’t see any reason for the franchise not to renew deals for Caguioa and Helterbrand, the Best Player of the Conference in the Smart-PBA Fiesta Conference. Negotiations for new contracts will have to take place, though, with the other players. “Wala naman sigurong problema kay Mark and Jay-Jay, and duon sa mga iba pa," Caidic said Sunday. “Pero ’yung iba, we’ll have to see." The rest of the Gin Kings who have expiring contracts are Sunday Slvacion, Willy Wilson, Raffy Reavies, Paul Artadi, Vic Pablo—the oldest active league player at 37—Chris Pacana and Billy Mamaril. Only Ronald Tubid has a live contract with Ginebra. A total of 55 players have expiring contracts by season’s end, and Alaska is also a team that will relatively go through massive a negotiation process with its players beginning this month. The Aces will have nine expiring player contracts led by Tony de la Cruz, Reynel Hugnatan , LA Tenorio and Larry Fonacier. Alaska also has two players whose contracts have expired, namely Aaron Aban and JunJun Cabatu. Dennis Espino and Dennis Miranda, key figures in Sta. Lucia’s title romp in the Philippine Cup last March, have contracts that have already ceased. The Realtors also have Marlou Aquino and Paolo Mendoza with pacts that will end by the end of the season. Jay Washington, Jimmy Alapag, Harvey Carey, Ali Peek and Mac-Mac Cardona have contracts that need to be negotiated with Talk ’N Text Magnolia will have Olsen Racela, Lordy Tugade, Danny Seigle, Chester Tolomia and Chris Calaguio with expiring deals, while Coca-Cola has 11 players led by Asi Taulava and Alex Cabagnot. Air21 has five players that include Nino Canaleta and Homer Se while Welcoat, which will have the No. 1 pick in the August 31 PBA Rookie Draft, have eight players with expiring contracts. – GMANews.TV