By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel just solidified their backcourt after signing energetic guard MJ Ayaay from the Alaska Aces.
Head coach Tim Cone confirmed the off-season move after welcoming the hardworking player to their Ginebra family through Twitter: “We welcome newly signed MJ Ayaay to the Ginebra family!”
The ninth overall pick during the 2018 PBA draft showed a promising rookie season after averaging 4.76 points and 3.2 rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time in a stacked Alaska team.
Ayaay then showed flashes of a decent two-way player in the PBA as he developed his defense and bringing energy off the bench.
During the 2019-2020 PBA season, Ayaay’s offensive artillery shone after improving his three-point shooting and was even the designated point guard for several games under the helm of former head coach Alex Compton.
Coach Cone expressed his excitement of inserting Ayaay into the Ginebra system. “We’re looking forward to pairing him with Scottie (Thompson) in the backcourt,” Cone added.
Ginebra will be entering the upcoming PBA season as the defending champions and the reinforcement by Ayaay and the returning Greg Slaughter will only boost their chances of a back-to-back championship run.
