Chris McCullough may have fallen a game short of a second PBA championship, this time with the TNT Tropang 5G, but it doesn’t mean he’s run out of chances—certainly not after that Finals he had, where he went basket for basket against the great Justin Brownlee and was a break or two away from leading the Tropa to a Cinderella ending.
McCullough, flown in to replace the injured Bol Bol right in the middle of TNT’s semis showdown with the Meralco Bolts, proved as good as advertised, putting up 33.4 points, 19.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks over seven games in the Finals. CMac’s numbers, in fact, compare favorably to Brownlee’s 36.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.3 steals in a matchup of super imports.
McCullough Back in the PBA?
After going toe to toe with a legendary import in Brownlee over the course of seven games, McCullough no doubt earned a ticket back to the PBA, potentially in next season’s Commissioner’s Cup. And, according to the man himself, some teams are already lining up for his services.
“I got a lot of teams calling,” McCullough told reporters after TNT’s 88-76 loss in Game 7. “I’m happy I was able to come here to showcase my talent. I’m not sure what team, but 100%. I’ll be back. Whatever team calls me, I’m just happy to play basketball.”
That team could be TNT once more, as CMac looked like a perfect fit in Chot Reyes’s free-flowing dribble-drive offense. The 31-year-old one-time Brooklyn Net also seemed to have developed chemistry with the Tropa, particularly Jordan Heading, whose best games this conference came with McCullough in town.
If not TNT, the two other MVP-aligned franchises—Meralco and the NLEX Road Warriors—could be a perfect fit for the one-time PBA champion.
Rest Is Next
That PBA return, though, is something for the future. For now, CMac is focusing on taking a much-deserved breather and plotting out what’s next moving forward.
“What’s next? Go home, relax a little bit, and go figure it out,” said McCullough, who also described the recently concluded PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals as one to remember.
“It was a good series,” he said. “This is one of the series that’s going to be remembered forever. It was a great battle between me and JB, the rest of the other team.”
It was a great battle, indeed—and PBA fans would no doubt love to see Chris McCullough in more of those.
