Greg Slaughter Taking a Break: What's Next for Ginebra?

While the entire PBA community was rather disoriented by the devastating news that June Mar Fajardo may miss the entire 45th season of the league to a shin injury that he sustained in a team practice, other players are facing all kinds of situations right now. For starters, Gilas Pilipinas is currently experiencing withdrawal of key players due to a wide variety of reasons. Then, the question of "Where will Ray Parks play next?" Or the question of "Will Thirdy Ravena get banned from the league if he doesn't join the draft this year?" 

And now, fans of the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings and even the Gin Kings themselves are now asking the question of "What's next?"

Coming off a successful campaign in the 2019 Governors' Cup where they emerged as champions anew against the Meralco Bolts for the third time in 4 tries, Ginebra is seeking to end the seeming unstoppable dominance of the San Miguel Beermen in the upcoming Philippine Cup. And whether you like it or not, San Miguel is still the team to beat in the all-Filipino conference with or without June Mar Fajardo and that's the reason why a healthy Greg Slaughter is what will make the difference for the Gin Kings.

However, the Gin Kings will not even have Greg Slaughter as his Ginebra contract just expired with no sign pointing towards a return to the negotiation table. At least, that's how it looks judging from the Instagram post of Greg Slaughter himself. 

In the said post, GregZilla said that he would be taking a break from Ginebra "to work on himself in all aspects". He also thanked the Ginebra management, coaching staff, his teammates, the big bosses from the SMC Group, and most importantly, the Ginebra fans. There was no indication as to when he will be back in the PBA or will he even return to basketball. He did say in the post that "the best is yet to come." 

This surprising development just came in after rumors of Slaughter being prepared to be traded came out of the Internet. Whether Slaughter's post will quash down the rumors or not is something that we'll see in the coming weeks.

Again, "What's next?"

For one, Ginebra will need to decide who will take over the starting center position to start alongside Japeth Aguilar at the frontline. Right now, the choices would be Raymond Aguilar and Prince Caperal. Of course, Tim Cone could go for Art Dela Cruz at the starting small forward, Joe Devance at the 4, and Aguilar at the 5 spot. hat will depend on whether or not both Dela Cruz and Devance will be healthy enough.

Or, either Aljon Mariano or Jared Dillinger could take the starting small forward spot and Devance will be at the power forward spot. Tim Cone still has the luxury of having players who are capable of playing multiple positions at any given time. They also have Stanley Pringle to complement the backcourt combo of LA Tenorio and Scottie Thompson.

The other path Ginebra could after Greg Slaughter decides that he wants a break from basketball? A trade. 

One way or another, the Gin Kings will need someone to fill in the big pair of shoes Slaughter is leaving behind and while it's not easy to replace a guy of Greg Slaughter's size and talent, 

Then again, Tim Cone will figure out how to move forward in the absence of Greg Slaughter, right? After all, he's the winningest coach in the history of the PBA.  He worked it out during the season when Greg Slaughter is injured so it's just a matter of finding the right fits.   

Photo is from Fox Sports Asia