The exchange happened shortly after the Bolts faced the Alaska Aces in a tune-up game on the same day, with Meralco team manager Paolo Trillo sharing that the trade equated to their team swapping 2019 and 2021 first-round draft picks with the Elastopainters.
The six-foot-eight big man entered the pro league in 2013 through the PBA Rookie Draft, becoming the third overall pick.
In the ongoing 2019 Philippine Cup, Almazan averaged 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game considering his missed games due to injury. However, Meralco expresses their excitement in fulfilling the much-needed big man position that they had long been searching for, as they have an abundance of strong guards like Baser Amer, Mike Tolomia, Anjo Caram, John Pinto, Trevis Jackson, and Chris Newsome.
As a reaction to the trade, Meralco head coach Norman Black shared, “We’ve gone quite a few years now without being able to man the paint, particularly in the All-Filipino. We have bigs, I’m not downplaying them. But Almazan is one of the best bigs in the country.” He added, “I will say he definitely will make us better. He’s a good shot blocker, a good rebounder. He can score around the basket — all the things that we need. We’re giving up a premium for him but we wanna win now. Let’s see what happens about the fortunes.” Coach Norman concludds, “We’re giving up a premium for him, obviously, but we want to win now, and we want to get a guy who can help us win now.”
The league’s mid-season conference, also known as the Commissioner’s Cup, begins on May 19, where Almazan is expected to first see action with his new team. He’ll be joined by new import Gani Lawal to fulfill the absence of Jared Dillinger and Ranidel de Ocampo, who are suffering from injuries.