It turned out Barangay Ginebra's move to let go Christian Standhardinger was mutually agreed by both parties.

While head coach Tim Cone stressed how tough it was to give away his prized veterans in Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle, he said that there's a need for the team to be younger.

By dealing Standhardinger, the Kings have granted the request of the 6-foot-9 big man to play for another system and coach.

"It was a combination of things.  First off, let me just say, it was tough to move on from Christian and Stanley who were absolute studs for us over the past few years," said Cone in a message.

"Stanley was absolutely dominating when we first acquired him and Christian was the best player in the league next to June Mar over the past couple of years," he added.

"On our part, we felt we needed to get younger and for Christian, he had stated to us a conference ago that he would prefer to play in a different system and under a different coach," revealed the veteran mentor.

Cone shared that ever since Standhardinger expressed his interest to move on from Ginebra, the Kings have explored possible deals for the Fil-German before finally pulling the trigger on the deal that sent him to Terrafirma in exchange of Stephen Holt and Isaac Go.

"No doubt, he loved his teammates and playing for the Ginebra fans, but he felt it was better to move on," Cone said of Standhardinger.

"We have contemplated various deals for him before finally settling on acquiring Stephen Holt and Isaac Go and the chance to move up in what we see is a strong draft," added Cone as Season 49 first-round pick swap put Ginebra in position to possibly get its hand on this year's top talents in the likes of Justine Baltazar, Sedrick Barefield and Kai Ballungay.

"We will miss Christian and Stanley and always appreciate the championships we won together.  We wish them the best as they continue their careers," Cone ended.