Slaughter undergoes surgery, will miss entire PBA season

MANILA, Philippines – Barangay Ginebra behemoth Greg Slaughter undergoes surgery to repair an ankle problem in the next few days, a procedure essentially ending all his activities in the current PBA season.

The 7-foot-1 Fil-Am player is not only missing a chance to play in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tourney but also the season-ending PBA Governors Cup.

Also going away with his knee operation is a shot at the coveted MVP award in the 2015-16 PBA season. Slaughter and fellow Cebuano behemoth JunMar Fajardo are in a neck-and-neck battle in the statistical points race through the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup.

Slaughter topped the stats derby in the Commissioner’s Cup and could’ve been the hands-down choice as the Best Player of the Conference had Ginebra made even just the Final Four. The Gin Kings, however, were swept aside by the eventual champs the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in their best-of-three quarterfinals faceoff.

Making things worse for Slaughter was his health condition as the Gilas Pilipinas training was about to start.

A Ginebra official said no less than three doctors advised Slaughter to go under the knife.

“He’s been bothered by that injury from the time of coach Frankie Lim (at Ginebra). Remember, he missed a lot of games then. Actually, the history of that problem dated back to his high school days,” said the same Ginebra official.

Slaughter’s been at his finest when his injury recurred.

The University of Visayas alum averages 20.2 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.04 assists this season – all career highs for the top selection in the 2013 PBA Rookie Draft.

In the previous season, Slaughter averaged only 14.8 markers, 10.2 boards and 1.3 dish-offs.

His improvement under coach Tim Cone had made him a good prospect for the Gilas team to the coming OQT event, but his fate wouldn’t allow it.

Gilas Pilipinas won’t be able to put together Andray Blatche, Fajardo and Slaughter in its lineup, but coach Tab Baldwin and his pool have moved forward.

“The fact that they can’t walk on the court, that happens all the time in the sport of basketball. They move and I move on,” said Baldwin.

With the exit of Slaughter and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, the Gilas training roster is down among Blatche, Fajardo, Marcio Lassiter, Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Jayson Castro, Jeff Chan, Ranidel de Ocampo, Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Marc Pingris, Ryan Reyes, Terrence Romeo, Troy Rosario and LA Tenorio.

Moala Tautuaa is helping out as back-up naturalized player while Mac Belo, Russell Escoto, Kevin Ferrer, Bobby Ray Parks, Roger Pogoy and Kiefer Ravena are Gilas cadets included in the 24-man lineup submitted to FIBA last May 4.

Baldwin has until June 27 to name his Final 12.