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| Boban Marjanovic will play for SGA in the Jones Cup. |
MANILA—Strong Group Athletics is leaning toward NBA veteran Boban Marjanovic to be the club's main inside anchor as it attempts a rare feat of ruling the Jones Cup for three consecutive years.
SGA confirmed on Friday night that the seven-foot-four Serbian behemoth was its first signing for the annual tournament in Taiwan.
Club president Jacob Lao said that signing Marjanovic is timely since he believes this year's Jones Cup would be the toughest they will be playing in.
"We're building the best team possible because we know this will be the toughest William Jones Cup yet," said Lao.
Phoenix head coach Charles Tiu, who will still be SGA's gaffer for the Jones Cup, said that SGA and Marjanovic discussed his participation for quite some time.
"Excited on getting Boban to agree to play for us. We've been having some good talks; he's in shape and serious about this tournament, and he's preparing back home even before he flies out here. We've already talked a bit about basketball and our plans. Great and funny guy too," said Tiu.
Marjanovic last played for Ilirija in the Slovenian league before signing a "short-term" deal with SGA.
The former three-time Serbian league MVP played in the NBA for nine seasons, and while he struggled to get his MVP numbers, he was a crowd favorite for being approachable to fans.
He had his best moments during the 2021 NBA Playoffs playing alongside Luka Doncic with the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game.
In a different setup from the previous editions, the participating teams in the Jones will be divided into two groups.
SGA was drawn with Chinese Taipei's main squad, also known as Chinese Taipei Blue, in Group A alongside a team from Japan and South Korea.
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