NorthPort Batang Pier star Arvin Tolentino is leaving the PBA and headed to the Korean Basketball League –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.web
MANILA, Philippines—Northport formally started the post-Arvin Tolentino period with a crushing defeat by the hands of TNT within the PBA Philippine Cup.
Regardless of Tolentino’s official departure from the Batang Pier, Joshua Munzon and the squad expressed their happiness for the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup Finest Participant of the Convention.
READ: PBA: RHJ, Arvin Tolentino win Finest Import, Finest Participant awards
“Arvin deserves to go over there and make his cash,” stated Munzon after their 94-70 loss to the Tropang 5G at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.
“I feel he confirmed within the final convention how good of a participant he’s so he undoubtedly deserves to go make his cash and we’re blissful for him. He’s labored exhausting over right here.”
Simply earlier than NorthPort’s matchup with the grand slam-seeking TNT, it was made official that Tolentino wouldn’t lengthen his contract with the Batang Pier and would as a substitute signal with the Seoul SK Knights within the Korean Basketball League (KBL).
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Tolentino is coming off a career-best convention within the PBA, the place he gained the BPC award after averaging 23.0 factors, 7.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per recreation.
Seoul is recent off a seven-game finals loss to the Changwon LG Sakers and Filipino import Carl Tamayo within the KBL Finals just a few weeks in the past.
READ: PBA: A title and MVP a part of Arvin Tolentino’s large dream
Tolentino will substitute Juan Gomez de Liaño because the SK Knights’ Filipino import for the 2025–26 season.
Nonetheless, Tolentino isn’t the one key piece gone from the NorthPort lineup.
Pleased for Navarro too
‘WE’RE HAPPY FOR OUR GUYS’ 🫡
Northport star Joshua Munzon talks concerning the departure of Arvin Tolentino from the Batang Pier and the newest commerce that introduced William Navarro to Magnolia. @INQUIRERSports pic.twitter.com/bw7lwIS4BB
— Rommel Fuertes Jr. (@MeloFuertesINQ) Might 30, 2025
Earlier this week, the Batang Pier shipped William Navarro to Magnolia in change for Calvin Abueva, Jerrick Balanza, and a second-round choose within the 2026 PBA Draft.
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Very like their sentiments with Tolentino, Munzon and the workforce additionally help Navarro’s subsequent chapter with the Hotshots.
“It’s powerful to lose him. He’s averaging like 20 and 10, so it’s powerful to lose William, however we’re blissful for him and we’re hoping for his success over there in Magnolia,” stated Munzon.
Regardless of the most important lineup adjustments, NorthPort dropped to a 1-7 file within the all-Filipino convention.
