TNT’s gamble on recent 10,000-point club member Castro pays off

MANILA, Philippines — In basketball, or in sports in general, there are always risks and gambles when trading players.

There are always risks when trading star players for another star player. But there may be none greater than when trading a solid star for a rookie.

Back in 2008, the then-Talk ‘N Text Phone Pals traded forward Jay Washington for a chance to select Jayson Castro in the Draft.

Washington was then one of the rising stars in the PBA, averaging double digits in scoring and more than seven rebounds per game.

But he was shipped to the San Miguel Beermen in exchange for the pick that was used to select Castro.

Fast forward to now, and surely, the TNT gamble paid off.

Castro, on Wednesday, became a part of the elite 10,000 career points list, being the 17th player in PBA history to do so.

“Well, I think that's a recognition that's long coming. I'm very proud of his journey,” TNT head coach Chot Reyes said of Castro after the Tropang 5G’s 96-93 win over the NLEX Road Warriors on Wednesday.

“Because if you remember, we made a really big, huge risky move when we traded just to be able to draft Jayson. We traded a guy by the name of Jay Washington. When I got to talk and text, basically he was our best player. Our best individual player. But we made that move to be able to draft, to be in a position to draft Jayson Castro,” he added.

“And who would have known that he would be in that elite club with 10,000 point players?

The lightning-quick, 5-foot-10 guard scored 14 points in the do-or-die quarterfinal game.

He also achieved his feat after a serious knee injury put him out of action for a year.

“So more than the award, really what I'm proudest of is his journey. From that young guy who was starting off with us, all the way to his evolution to now.”

Castro and TNT will try to overcome their twice-to-win disadvantage as they clash with NLEX in a sudden-death quarterfinal clash Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.