Yap set to sign deal with Blackwater

TWO-TIME league Most Valuable Player James Yap is set to sign a one-year deal with Blackwater this coming Friday.

Blackwater team owner Sy bared the news to The Manila Times, noting that “it’s indeed an honor and privilege to have James Yap play for our team.”

The amiable Blackwater big boss said the 6-foot-2 Yap, who is turning 42 next week, will play “multiple roles” for the Bossing, while the man known by his moniker “Big Game James” will also be reunited with coach Jeff Cariaso.

“James Yap is James Yap. He will be [playing] a multiple role as a player [and] model for the other younger players and also as a playing coach for the younger players who learn from a [future] Hall of Famer,” Sy said on Wednesday.

Sy added that Yap, who is serving his first term as councilor of San Juan, will be inking the new pact with his new team on Friday, which also marks the Chinese New Year at the Ronac gym in Ortigas Avenue in San Juan, where the

Bossing hold their practice.

“He will sign with the team at Ronac gym during lunch,” said Sy, who added that he has extended an invitation to San Juan Mayor Francisco Javier “Francis” Zamora and longtime San Juan councilor and Yap’s former UE Red Warrior, and Purefoods teammate and buddy Paul Artadi.

Yap will play under Cariaso, who used to serve as Tim Cone’s deputy at the Purefoods franchise over a decade ago.

Yap will be playing for his third PBA team after the Magnolia franchise, the team that selected him second overall in the 2004 PBA Draft, where he eventually led to seven league titles, including the 2014 Grand Slam.

The sweet-shooting Yap was eventually traded to Rain or Shine in October 2016 in a blockbuster one-on-one swap with Paul Lee.

Yap played seven years with Rain or Shine before asking for his release from the team just two weeks ago after the team ended its Commissioner’s Cup campaign with a quarterfinal loss to San Miguel Beer.