Rico goes to Kings in multi-player deal

MANILA, Philippines - Sister teams Purefoods and Barangay Ginebra, with Burger King as intermediary, struck a major multi-player trade deal a day after the 2009 PBA Rookie Draft.

The Giants reacquired the services of point guard Paul Artadi and also got frontliner Rafi Reavis, off-guard Cholo Villanueva and rookie draftee Chris Timberlake while the Kings gained in return the services of Enrico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, Paolo Bugia and Celino Cruz.

In acting as the third party in the Purefoods-Ginebra transaction, Burger King acquired the rookie draftee Orlando Daroya plus two future picks by the Giants.

PBA operations chief Rickie Santos told The STAR this multi-player transaction has been approved by the league commissioner.

The Giants and the Kings entered into the deal with both hoping to strike a balance in their respective lineups for the coming 35th PBA season.

In getting Rico Maierhofer as the No. 2 pick in the draft, the Giants found themselves with players at the power forward-center spots with the former La Salle standout in the same role as Villanueva, Bugia, Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo, Don Allado and Romel Adducul.

They hoped they solved their problem at guard spots on their acquisitions of Artadi and Timberlake. – Nelson Beltran