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| Chris McCullough will be the driving force for TNT in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals seven years after depriving them of the crown. Peter Baltazar |
QUEZON CITY--Chris McCullough delivered a heartbreak to TNT in the 2019 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals when he led San Miguel to the championship.
Seven years later, the six-foot-nine power forward is back in the midseason conference finals, but instead of Beerman red, he is in Tropang 5G blue, the very same team he denied a title in his first PBA run.
"I think this is a full circle moment for me, so it's very big," McCullough said when asked about bringing TNT to the finals during the pre-finals press conference for the 2026 edition on Monday at the Novotel Grand Ballroom.
For him, however, being back in the PBA is already enough.
"I always wanted to come back, and I'm finally here," McCullough further said.
He then further elaborated how Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, his former teammate with the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, pitched the idea of playing with the Tropang 5G to him right after Bol Bol suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear.
"It was basically like seven in the morning, so I was asleep. He called me. He said, 'Keep your phone on. I'll be calling you in two hours,' and I'm like, 'Yeah. Whatever.' Then he ended up calling me, and it came full circle. I'm just happy to be back," McCullough further said.
In a previous interview, he lauded Hollis-Jefferson's efforts to recruit him, saying, "He made it happen."
From being tasked to stop TNT from winning it all, McCullough has been given a vital role in bringing the club to the title, and it begins on Wednesday night against Ginebra in Game 1 of the finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum here.
