Pingris moves on after facing former Star teammate Yap

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Marc Pingris said all parties involved the offseason’s blockbuster trade have already recovered in their own ways.

“Naka-move on na kami at alam kong happy na rin si James sa sitwasyon nya. Happy na rin kami na dumagdag si Paul Lee sa amin,” he said.

Yap and Lee swapped places in the offseason which sent shockwaves through the league. And on Sunday, Star edged Rain or Shine, 99-91 in the highly emotional tiff as the two teams met for the first time since the deal.

Pingris shared it truly was a surreal experience seeing Yap, his teammate for more than a decade, donning a different jersey.

“Syempre awkward kasi 12 years kaming magkakasama, but alam naman ni James na trabaho lang naman ito eh. Magkakaibigan naman kami sa labas. Expected naman naming mga players na hindi kami permanent sa isang team eh so kung dumating ang ganoong desisyon dapat handa ka,” he said.

There were moments in the game when Pingris and Yap butted heads fighting for possession, but as 

professionals, the former said that it’s all plain business.

“Trabaho lang, wala namang personalan kasi pagdating sa court, ang unang iisipin mo is yung team and then yung family mo,” he said.

But off the court, Yap, Pingris, and Peter June Simon are still as close as ever with the three of them even staging a Christmas party for their fans later in the evening.

“Yun ang pinagusapan namin before the game, yung Big Three party namin,” he said, as he rushed out of the venue to make the event in San Juan. “Syempre friends pa rin kami paglabas ng court.”