Grand slam winner TNT Tropang Giga and new guest team Wilcon Depot kick off Season 3 of the Philippine Basketball Association 3×3 on Monday at the Ayala Mall Manila Bay.
Triple Giga open hostilities in the season’s First Conference as it battles Blackwater Smooth Razor at 10:30 a.m. while Wilcon Depot makes its debut in the halfcourt league by taking on Cavitex in the 10:55 a.m. second game.
Coming off a sweep of all three conferences in Season 2, TNT will continue to parade the solid core of Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Ping Exciminiano, and Gryann Mendoza, with Mau Belen at the coaching helm.
Veteran Nico Salva, meanwhile, banners the revamped Blackwater side of coach Junjie Ablan that also included Patrick Jamison, Dariel Bayla and JR Alabanza.
New team Wilcon Depot will be handled by Anton Altamirano and is composed of Ael Banal, Terrence Tumalip, Keith Datu, and Yutien Andrada, while Cavitex still has the reliable group of Jorey Napoles, Dominick Fajardo, Tonino Gonzaga, and Kenneth Ighalo, with Kyles Lao as coach.
The rest of the seven teams — Pioneer Elastoseal, San Miguel, Purefoods, Meralco, Northport, Terrafirma and Barangay Ginebra — will also see action on opening day, where a total of 13 games will be played.
Meralco and Terrafirma tangle with each other in their debut game at 11:20 a.m., Pioneer plays Blackwater for its initial outing at 11:45 a.m., San Miguel takes on Purefoods at 12:10 p.m., before Barangay Ginebra plays Northport at 12:35 p.m.
The 11-team field has been divided into three groups, with TNT leading Pool A together with Blackwater and Pioneer.
Pool B is composed of Cavitex, San Miguel, Purefoods, and Wilcon, while Pool C has Meralco, Ginebra, Northport and Terrafirma.
Top two teams in each group advance in the knockout stage set on Tuesday.
The champion of the opening leg will receive P100,000.
