PBA Trade Recall: Imagine Paul Lee and James Yap in the same team? Paul did so!

Paul Lee was the visitor of the 2OT podcast by Tiebreakertimes last Saturday and Paul shared what happened before the Paul Lee-James Yap swap.

Paul provided the following statements:

Nangyari noon is siguro sampung player yata sa team, expiry that time. Doon ko naramdaman na ‘yung team parang naghihintay kung anong mangyayari about sa contract. Parang worried talaga lahat, kaya hindi makapag-focus ng maigi sa game. Then ‘yun nga, off-season siya...Tapos biglang pumutok na ‘yung kay Coach Yeng — kasi nauna yata si Coach Yeng sa akin ng one week eh.

If you remember, coach Yeng went to NLEX just days earlier before the Yap-Lee swap happened. Now, how did Paul received the news of his trade?

Magii-start na ako magpakundisyon ulit tapos ‘yung phone ko iniwan ko sa kotse kasi nagpakundisyon ako sa UE … So iniwan ko lang ‘yung phone ko. Pagbalik ko sa phone, ang daming missed calls sa akin ni governor namin sa Rain or Shine, si Sir Mert Mondragon...Then ‘yun nga, maya-maya nag-text siya, sinabi niya kaagad sa akin — talagang direct to the point ah — ‘Paul, na-trade ka namin sa Star Hotshots. Good luck sa ‘yo doon, mag-iingat ka doon and magpapakabait ka doon.'

Just like a lot of us, Paul did not imagine that he will be traded for James.

Inisip ko kaagad, sabi ko Star Hotshots? Malakas pa ‘yun. Nandoon pa si James Yap, nandoon pa si PJ Simon, Pingris, [Mark] Barroca, [Justin] Melton, [Alex] Mallari, Allein Maliksi, RR Garcia. Sabi ko contender ‘tong team na ‘to.

Can you imagine if Rain or Shine did not ask for James? A Paul Lee - James Yap partnership will surely unleash a lot of star power that could have attracted a lot of fans. It will be interesting to see how could they have meshed, knowing that they are both deadly scorers.