Redemption arcs are fascinating. There is something uplifting about cheering for someone trying to do right after failing, after falling, after faltering. From that metric, we all should be rooting for John Amores, who got another shot at PBA relevance after recently signing a one-conference deal with the Titan Ultra Giant Risers. That doesn’t mean he should be back in the PBA. Not now, at least.
Yes, redemption arcs are fascinating. People making the most out of their second chance deserve to be egged on. They are doing the right thing. John Amores, in this case, appears to be doing the right thing. That is well and good. He deserves to be cheered. He deserves a pat on the back. He deserves our well wishes. All that doesn’t mean he deserves to be back in the PBA. Not after what he did nearly two years ago.
It was attempted murder. He fired a gun at a man, all because of a heated moment in—wait for it!—a basketball game. That the victim escaped unharmed doesn’t change the fact that John Amores tried to kill or maim someone over a basketball game. It wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment thing either. Amores and his brother had the wherewithal to ride a motorcycle to chase that man. They knew what they were doing. It was attempted murder—or attempted manslaughter. Take your pick.
Of course, he has paid his dues. Reports say he has turned over a new leaf. It appears he was acquitted of all charges as well.
John Amores and His Pattern of Violence
None of that can ever mask John Amores’s pattern of violence. He punched a fellow player in a preseason game—a preseason game!—in July 2022. Just a few months later, he ran amok in an NCAA game, punching Benilde Blazers Taine Davis and Jimboy Pasturan, and pushing Migz Oczon in a fit of rage rarely seen on national TV. And yet John Amores still made it to the PBA, drafted 51st overall by the NorthPort Batang Pier in the 2023 PBA Draft.
A year later, he fired a gun at a man—supposedly over a non-call at what amounts to “papawis gaming” in Laguna.
Not even two years later, John Amores is back in the PBA, his license reinstated and his professional basketball career resuscitated. That the PBA in general and Titan Ultra in particular allowed this to happen sends the wrong message: winning trumps accountability, wins matter more than morals. It also undermines the league’s integrity—or what’s left of it. Professional sports demand accountability, and fast-tracking a player back into the spotlight less than two years after a shooting incident suggests talent outweighs misconduct. It risks normalizing volatility. Young athletes look up to PBA players, and signing someone with a history of brawls and gun violence tells them consequences are temporary if you can hoop well enough.
What’s ironic is that Amores will have been gone from the league less than two years after he tried shooting a man. Jamie Malonzo and Will Navarro, who both tried their basketball luck overseas, are barred from rejoining the PBA until 2028—a potentially longer absence compared to Amores’s—because of the league’s Draconian three-year ban. The contrast is hard to ignore.
Risks Beyond Image
The risks extend beyond image. John Amores has disrupted programs before, and Titan Ultra and the PBA as a whole inherit not just a player but potential liabilities and distractions. Other teams passed for good reason. Philippine basketball culture values grit and passion, but it should not romanticize unchecked aggression. Excusing repeated violence with “he’s turning a new leaf” cheapens genuine reform and disrespects victims. To this point, redemption should be earned through sustained proof of change, not a quick return.
To be fair, John Amores may stay out of trouble this time around. Athletes mature, after all. But this signing feels rushed, done with little thought, and contrary to the values the PBA should be upholding. The league is better than that. At least it should be. It should elevate players who strengthen its image, not those who repeatedly tarnish it. Titan Ultra had other options, and yet they went for the one with a pattern of violence, all because he has supposedly turned in a new life.
But, again, John Amores deserves a path forward in life. It’s just that said path shouldn’t have led him back to the PBA spotlight—at least not yet.
