Powerhouse teams Magnolia and San Miguel are both in a race against time to make a decision regarding their import situations with the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup playoffs just around the corner.

Both the Hotshots and the Beermen were forced to play with an all-Filipino lineup in their last games with Magnolia’s Shabazz Muhammad dealing with a left knee tendonitis and the SMB’s Jordan Adams sustaining a hamstring strain.

Magnolia managed to pull through with a 110-94 victory over NorthPort to assure itself a spot in the quarterfinals while SMB was not as fortunate as it fell to Blackwater, 111-94, to lose its chance at finishing as the Group B top seed.

Coaches of both teams said they are looking at every possible way to deal with the situation, including the possibility of changing imports.

“That’s an option also. Because we don’t want also na, ‘yun nga, kung ‘di naman healthy. We will try to see kung ano pa ‘yung mangyayari,” said Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero.

“Let’s see kung paano ‘yung mangyayari. Because it (happened) near the playoffs. Hopefully, maka-decide kami kung ano ‘yung pwede naming gawin. Katulad ni Shabazz, alam naman niya ‘yung sitwasyon,” he added.

There’s still a cloud of uncertainty whether Muhammad will play in Magnolia’s last game against Converge or will there be a new import considering that the placing in the quarters is at stake in that game

Standing on a similar boat was SMB head coach Jorge Gallent.

“We have to talk about it, kasi ‘yung feeling namin, traydor ‘yun (injury). And, our games are every other day eh, so baka mangyari mag-tight nang mag-tight. We’re gonna put that in consideration,” Gallent told the reporters after the loss to Blackwater.

Even though Adams was SMB’s first import choice, the Beermen can no longer put him on the injury/reserve list and put him back into the lineup after, since teams are only allowed to do it once.

They already did it a week ago when they tried to experiment in bringing in Sheldon Mac on Adams’ place.

“If we will change, it’s 100 percent na yes. If change, change,” he stressed.