KIA severs ties with Revilla, trades guard for Phoenix’s Grimaldo, draft pick

MANILA, Philippines — LA Revilla has been shipped to another team days after Kia put him on the trading block for his controversial social media posting.

The diminutive guard, who has had a relatively impressive season as a member of the Picanto, was traded to the Phoenix Fuel Masters for newcomer Jayson Grimaldo and a 2018 second-round draft pick.

The transaction was formalized on Wednesday morning, according to PBA press corps president and Spin.ph’s Gerry Ramos, who is in Los Angeles with a number of team governors for the league’s annual season planning.

According to an earlier report by The STAR’s Nelson Beltran, who is also with the delegation in the US, Kia governor Bobby Rosales told Revilla to no longer practice with them after his controversial tweet.

“We’re really disappointed. We gave him a break and he’s the face of Kia, then…,” Rosales shared to Beltran. “We’re disappointed.”

Revilla’s tweet, which has long been taken down, was interpreted by many basketball followers as a subtle jab at his team’s decision to ship the first overall pick — which could’ve been Filipino-German Gilas trooper Christian Standhardinger — for three veteran members of the San Miguel Beermen and a draft pick in 2018.

The post read: “Kung magpapalusot man lang sana ginandahan niyo na ang rason. Hindi talaga eh. Bagsak kayo sigurado kung may lie detector.”

Revilla played in eight Picanto games in the season-ending Governors’ Cup. He averaged 6.5 points an outing to go with 3.6 boards and 5.1 assists. Picked in the third round by GlobalPort, he joined Kia in 2014. Last season, he was named into the All-Star team.

Kia won only six games in the 2017 Season. They went winless in the final conference where they nearly defeated a number of teams, had they not suffered meltdowns.