Rondae Hollis-Jefferson itching for PBA comeback

MANILA, Philippines — TNT’s injured resident import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is eyeing his comeback in the late stages of the eliminations of the PBA Governors’ Cup, which will run from July 10 through Dec. 30.

“I can’t give an exact date but we’re looking at somewhere between September and October,” the three-time PBA champion and Best Import said in his update on the Tropang 5G’s social media page yesterday.

Hollis-Jefferson is recovering from an Achilles injury he sustained last December while on loan to Meralco in the East Asia Super League.

He sat out the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup, where old rival Justin Brownlee and Barangay Ginebra dethroned Chris McCullough-anchored TNT in a blockbuster seven-game finale.

For their Governors’ Cup title defense, RHJ will pass import duties to Darius Days initially. The numerous breaks for Gilas Pilipinas’ international forays stretched the conference’s preliminaries’ slate to Oct. 25, giving RHJ added time for his targeted return to action.

“At five months post-surgery, I’m moving a lot better, I’m able to run, and lightly jump,” he shared.

“Things start to ramp up at this mark – we’re doing more on-the-court work, pool workouts, a lot of strengthening on the calf and all the muscles that lost a lot of strength while I was not able to use them,” he added.

The much-anticipated rivalry matchup with Brownlee in the season-ending conference, however, will only happen if defending champion TNT and Ginebra get paired up in the playoffs.

This is because the Governors’ Cup is retaining the group format from last season and the Tropang 5G and the Gin Kings are bunched in different brackets.