Ildefonso keeps options open for PBA return after Bolts’ ouster

Meralco Bolts’ veteran Danny Ildefonso. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

After a storied 17-year career which has given him eight championships, two Most Valuable Player awards, the Rookie of the Year plum in 1998 and several stints with the national team, is Danny Ildefonso ready to finally hang up his sneakers?

The 38-year-old is keeping his options open.

“Depende kung kailangan pa ako ng Meralco, baka mag-extend pa ako. Kung kailangan pa ko, lalaro pa ko,” he said after Meralco’s season-ending defeat to San Miguel on Monday.

READ: PBA Beermen oust Bolts to complete semis cast

(It depends if Meralco still needs me, I might extend. If they still need me, I’ll continue playing.)

Ildefonso signified his intention to call it a career last May, but he admitted that there were several factors which made him take a U-turn.

“I’m enjoying myself in the last games because I’m helping the team. My kids even told me to keep on playing,” he said.

But if Ildefonso did play his final game, ironically against a team where he made his lore, he knows that he has made a huge impact in the league, especially with the guys he worked with.

And if Ildefonso does call it quits, he’s putting an end to a successful professional basketball career after blazing through the blacktops of Urdaneta, Pangasinan, to National University in the collegiate ranks, and finally, in the PBA after being the top pick in the 1998 Rookie Draft by Formula Shell before being sent to San Miguel.

But for now, the 6-foot-6 big man is keeping his window open.

“Kung kaya pa, tignan natin (If I still can, we’ll see.),” he said. CFC