Kiefer Ravena enlisted in Shiga's opening night roster amid contract dispute

Kiefer Ravena has been placed in the Shiga Lakestars' opening night lineup. Dennis Acosta (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--In what could be the latest chapter in Kiefer Ravena's contract situation with Shiga and NLEX, the former still put his name in its opening night lineup for the upcoming B.League Division 1 season.

On Tuesday, the Lakestars unveiled their new lineup which included Ravena, who might wear number 15 for them if he finally settles his contract dispute with the Road Warriors.

The PBA board of governors has already ruled that the six-foot combo guard must honor his newly signed contract with NLEX and Shiga buying out the contract is not feasible at the moment.

However, the Lakestars said that they are ready if Ravena would eventually not be cleared for the controversial transfer with finality.

"In the future, if there is an accident etc., there is a possibility that additional reinforcement will be done," Shiga said in a statement.

However, the team insisted, "At the moment we are planning to start with these 12 people."

Ovie Soko, Reon Shibuta, Tomomasa Ozawa, Tomonori Imagawa, Teppei Kashiwagura, Daichi Nomoto, Novar Gadson, Shotaro Hayashi, Sean O'Mara, Naoto Noriyama, and Koya Kawamata have also been revealed to complete the Lakestars lineup.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno