Justin Chua plays last game in Phoenix after surprising trade

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Who would’ve thought that the Phoenix Super LPG squad will be trading away their main center in Justin Chua?

In a shocking trade, the Super LPG management confirmed that they just shipped Chua in exchange for Kris Porter of the NLEX Road Warriors.

Chua developed his PBA career under the Phoenix squad and was a former 2020 Top D-Fender awardee of the PBA Press Corps.

The leftie big man proved he was a solid starting center and formed a decent trio with main gunner Matthew Wright and emerging forward Jason Perkins.

Chua was having his best four-year stretch in the PBA with Phoenix and averaged an impressive 11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game during his breakout year from 2019-2020.

On the other hand, the man that will replace Chua in head coach Topex Robinson’s rotation, Porter, has only played twice for the Road Warriors this season and only 29 games in his career which was easily matched with Chua’s 39 games played during his 2019 season.

The Chua-Porter trade was reportedly signed and confirmed by league commissioner Willie Marcial and the rest of the PBA board and beat the trade deadline.

Aside from Porter’s addition, the Fuelmasters will also acquire the Road Warriors’ 2022 first round pick and 2021 second round pick.