Manny Pacquiao is the owner of the Kia Sorentos, an expansion team in the Philippine Basketball Association. He wants to recruit a high profile player to his team, and is targeting Metta World Peace.
Pacquiao is not just the owner of the team. Last week, the Philippine Basketball Association had its draft. The Kia Sorentos drafted Pacquiao in the first round, which makes him a player-coach. An owner drafting himself is already a pretty crazy story, but it appears from this photo that Pacquiao might be allowed to wear his own customized jersey too:
.@MannyPacquiao drafted by basketball team he coaches. https://t.co/s3bYDwjhoQ Photo: Jay Directo—AFP/Getty Images pic.twitter.com/cNloCOpxYi
— TIME.com (@TIME) August 27, 2014
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According to an Associated Press report via ESPN, Pacquiao has a previous relationship with Metta and is very interested in bringing him on board:
“He’s OK. He’s my friend,” The Philippine Star quoted Pacquiao as saying of World Peace, whom he met in Los Angeles in 2009 ahead of his fight against Miguel Cotto.
“We need a good import,” he said. “If we get him, that would be nice.”
There’s only one problem to this entire plan: Metta is not a free agent at the moment, having signed with the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association earlier this summer. As it stands, recruiting Metta seems like a pipe dream, but could definitely be a possibility in a year if things don’t work out in China and Metta doesn’t draw interest from NBA teams.
If you’re wondering how good Pacquiao is at basketball, this clip of him shooting around with Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller should give you an idea:
That’s a very awkward shooting form he has. Despite that, Pacquiao as basketball owner and player promises to be pretty entertaining.
What do you think?
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