PBA and Gilas Pilipinas great Jimmy Alapag never had it this good.
Alapag announced last Saturday that he has been tapped by the Sacramento Kings to be their player development coach for the coming NBA season.
“A dream come true. Proud to announce I’ll be joining coach Mike Brown and his staff as a player development coach for the upcoming NBA season,” Alapag said on his social media accounts last Saturday. “Incredibly blessed and thankful for this opportunity.”
Before joining the Kings’ staff, the former PBA MVP and Gilas skipper served as an assistant coach of Bobby Jackson in Sacramento’s G League affiliate Stockton Kings.
Alapag’s coaching career began in the Philippines after he became a deputy to Tab Baldwin at Gilas and to Norman Black at Meralco and to Leo Austria at San Miguel Beer.
He also called the shots and won a title for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the ABL seven years ago after calling it a career in 2016.
Alapag, together with his wife, former actress LJ Moreno and their four children, left the Philippines in 2020 to return to the United States, where he was born and played collegiate basketball at CSU San Bernardino.
Alapag was drafted 10th overall by the Talk ‘N Text franchise in 2003 and became the most prolific three-point shooter in PBA history.
In a nearly two-decade pro career, Alapag won the 2003 Rookie of the Year award, the 2011 PBA MVP, as well as two Best Player of the Conference awards and a finals MVP in the same season.
Alapag was a six-time PBA champion and a standout for the Nationals from 2007 to 2013.
