Chris Gavina leaves PBA for Taiwan coaching stint

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

It seems like Filipino coaches are now taking part in the international basketball exodus.

Chris Gavina, the current assistant coach of the Rain or Shine Elastopainters in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), already resigned from his post and accepted an offer from the Taiwanese men’s professional basketball league.

“The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters would like to thank coach Chris Gavina for everything he has done for the team. We wish him all the best in his next coaching stint,” posted the team on its social media accounts.

It was confirmed that the Filipino tactician stepped down from his assistant coach role to accept a head coaching stint with the Taichung Suns in the T1 basketball league.

Jordan Heading, a former member of the Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team, also played for Taichung last season before leaving for Japan.

With his vast coaching experience in the Philippines, Gavina will be tasked to bring back basketball glory for Taichung heading into the next season.

Gavina first got his head coaching job in the PBA after signing with KIA Mahindra and also rendered his services to Valenzuela and Bacoor in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).

The defensive-oriented chief orchestrator was then signed by the Elastopainters as an assistant coach last 2018 before getting promoted to head coach the year after.

Gavina helped Rain or Shine qualify for the PBA playoffs once under his mentorship and clinched an overall regular season record of 13 wins and 22 losses.

Rain or Shine will be without Gavina for their eight remaining games in the regular season and are currently in the hunt for a post-season return after failing to make the playoffs last conference.

Currently, Rain or Shine is sitting at the fifth spot of the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup with a 2-2 win-loss record.