 |
| Juan Gomez De Liaño is now a free agent. |
MANILA—Juan Gomez De Liaño's rocky stint with Earthfriends Tokyo Z came to an end on Tuesday after the club announced that he has been released from the team.
"We have decided to cancel the contract of Juan Gomez De Liaño for the B.League 2021-22 season after a mutual agreement," The Earthfriends said in a statement.
Despite the hype and the hopes that he will lead his team toward promotion to the first division, the high-flying former University of the Philippines combo guard only played limited minutes for Earthfriends Tokyo, averaging 5.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 0.5 steals a game.
Worse, the team is barely above the cellar in the Division 2 standings, only winning five games out of 30 so far.
Only Aomori Wat's, featuring another Filipino import in Kenmark Cariño, has a worse record at 2-28.
Gomez De Liaño only got to play in 17 games and has been taken out of the rotation since Dec. 4.
Despite how his stint has gone, Gomez De Liaño expressed his gratitude to the Earthfriends.
"Thank you Tokyo Z for giving me the opportunity and opening doors for me to play in such a beautiful country. Thank you Yamano-san (Katsuyuki Yamano, the team president) and Coach Hugo [Lopez]. To my teammates as well that made the transition easy for me, I will always value friendship more than anything I learned so much despite everything that has happened and I'll always be grateful for that," he said.
Now a free agent, teams without someone under the Asian Player Quota can now negotiate with Gomez De Liaño for his services.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
