Throughout the history of Philippine basketball, there have been a number of players who we can’t figure out what their careers would be if they didn’t get injured, had more playing time or weren’t traded.
For me, it was Kobe Paras.
Origins: Bouncing From International Hoops to Philippine Soil
Kobe once started his young basketball years internationally.
He first began his journey at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles and played for its varsity team called the Phantoms. But after some conflict in the academic years in the Philippines and the U.S., he then transferred to Middlebrooks Academy during his senior year.
Also for a brief moment, he also attended La Salle Greenhills here in the Philippines.
For his freshman year in college, he decided to bring his talents to Creighton University during the academic year of 2016-17. He was part of the Creighton Bluejays for one full season before he withdrew and transferred again to another university in 2017.
The reason for this is because he wasn’t getting enough playing time.
Kobe then was interested in becoming one of the “Matadors” from the Cal State Northridge in 2017 before out of the blue, decided to pull out even before seeing any action from an official game.
And then in 2018, he finally gave a chance to play in his home soil when he committed to play for the University of the Philippines, the home of the Fighting Maroons.
There he teamed up with bright young stars in the names of Ricci Rivero, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Javi Gomez de Liaño and foreign exchange student, Bright Akhuetie.
In UAAP Season 82, he showed everyone that the hype was real, he averaged 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 steals per game. He helped UP reach the #2 seed with a record of 9 wins and 5 losses.
However, despite having the twice to beat advantage against the Growling Tigers of the University of Santo Tomas, they still failed to reach the Finals and got eliminated.
Since the 2020-21 UAAP Season got cancelled because of the pandemic, this was the last time we ever saw Kobe play in the Philippines.
National Team Duties
Kobe Paras made a statement globally when he represented Gilas Pilipinas during the Dunk Contest of the 2013 Fiba 3×3 U18 Championship.
At the age of 16 years old, his dunk over a Motorcycle went viral globally which not only poked the interest of international colleges but also the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas itself.
He then represented the young Gilas Pilipinas team in the 2013 SEABA Under-16 Championship and the 2014 FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship. He then participated in 2015 FIBA 3×3 Under-18 World Championship, 2017 FIBA 3×3 World Cup and 2017 William Jones Cup.
But perhaps his most iconic games was during the 2017 Southeast Asian Games where the team won the gold medal against Indonesia.
Then, the next time represented the Philippines was during the second window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers which was in late 2020.
In two games against Thailand, he averaged 3.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists.
Little did we know, this was the last time we’d see Kobe wear the Gilas Pilipinas jersey.
In the third window of the Asian Qualifiers last 2021, former National Team Head Coach, Tab Baldwin announced that Kobe won’t be joining the team for their last 3 games as he told ESPN5.com that he “had a medical issue” but didn’t give more information about the injury.
First Class in Japan
During the latter part of the year 2020 to early stages of 2021, this was the first wave of Filipino hoopers who decided to take their talents in Japan’s B League as Asian imports.
Part of the first class of Filipino Asian imports was Kobe Paras who became part of the Niigata Albirex BB.
A lot of Pinoy fans were hopeful about Kobe’s decision, thinking he’d blossom into the best Small Forward that the Gilas team can use for future tournaments.
Until he didn’t.
The 6-foot-6 high flyer played 49 games and averaged 8.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. During Kobe’s 1 year deal with Niigata, his team had the worst record in the league with 45 losses and only 7 wins.
His contract wasn’t renewed so he decided to sign with the Altiri Chiba for the 2022-23 season. A team from the Division 2 of B League.
But his fate was almost the same.
He played for only 33 games, averaging 5.3 points, 0.9 rebound, and 1.0 assist while playing over 12 minutes per outing. Despite the record of 46 wins and 13 losses, the team decided to part ways with the former Fighting Maroon even before their playoffs began.
Reports mentioned it was a “mutual agreement” for both parties.
One of Gilas’ WHAT IF?
After his Japan stint, his basketball career never continued. It’s been roughly 2 or 3 years since we last saw Kobe play an official basketball game.
Nowadays we see his name pop up in showbiz articles like his relationships with celebrity actresses like Kyline Alcantara, Erika Porturnak and even a third party issue with Rhalia Tomakin.
It is still a big mystery why Kobe never pursued a career locally, but at the end of the day, his father Benjie Paras is a legend in the PBA. Being the only player to win the rookie of the year award and the league MVP both at the same time.
The “Tower of Power” was also a 4 time champion.
I still ask myself this, what if Kobe continuously developed his game in Japan? What if after his career in Japan, he played immediately here at the PBA or MPBL? What if stayed away from the bright lights of showbiz and locked himself in the gym instead?
What would Gilas Pilipinas be right now if Kobe Paras reached his full potential?
