San Miguel head coach Leo Austria said nothing is final yet as to the Beermen’s plans to replace import Arizona Reid despite the scheduled arrival of potential replacement Kevin Murphy on Thursday.
“[Murphy] will arrive tomorrow but there’s no assurance yet because he’s a backup to AZ who is not a hundred percent which is obvious last game where he was limping,” said Austria on Wednesday.
“But he will practice with us tomorrow if he arrives on time because I think his arrival is 6:30 in the morning and then, he’ll have a blood test, medical so he’ll be checked first,” he added.
Austria said Reid is dealing with a sprained ankle, an injury he aggravated early in the Beermen’s loss to the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings on Sunday.
“I think he sprained [his ankle] twice. Last game, he tweaked his ankle during the first few minutes and prior to that, he already had that injury against Colombian,” he said.
“But AZ is always practicing but he still can’t run due to some tenderness in his ankle and we don’t want him to aggravate it. But I told him, ‘you’re still my import.’”
Austria also said the 28-year-old Murphy, who was a late selection by the Utah Jazz in the 2012 NBA Draft, will still be evaluated when he arrives.
“We’ll see if he’s deserving when he practices, but based on what we’ve seen on video, he’s okay.”
Murphy, the former Tennessee Tech standout, last played for a Croatian club Cedevita Zagreb.