Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is close to having a complete lineup inside the Clark bubble with the arrival of floor general LA Tenorio.
Coach Tim Cone confirmed in a short message that Tenorio already arrived at the Quest Hotel, four days before the Kings take on the NLEX Road Warriors in the official resumption of the PBA season.
Tenorio will undergo a mandatory room quarantine until the results of his swab test come back negative.
Only Japeth Aguilar has yet to join Ginebra in Clark, but Cone said the Finals Most Valuable Player of last season’s Governors’ Cup is slated to enter the bubble on Thursday.
Even if he’s already inside the bubble, there’s talk that Tenorio could possibly miss the upcoming match against the Road Warriors after undergoing an appendectomy last week.
Tenorio has never missed a game since his pro debut in 2006, resulting in a record 641 straight appearances.
The Ginebra point guard will also have little time to prepare for Sunday’s game if it will take him two days to quarantine himself, just like what the early birds of the PBA bubble did.
Aguilar, meanwhile, is reportedly undergoing rehab on an old injury which is why he wasn't part of the Ginebra contingent that went to Clark last week.
In the event there’s a delay in his arrival, Aguilar won’t have a problem being barred from entering the bubble even after the official start of the season.
PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro bared in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association that the league has scrapped the Oct. 10 deadline for players officially part of the 25-man contingent to enter the bubble.