by Jonas Terrado
Ray Parks Jr. was named Local Most Valuable Player of the ASEAN Basketball League prior to Game 2 of the title series between the Singapore Slingers and CLS Knights Indonesia on Sunday.
Parks, coming off his final season with San Miguel Alab Pilipinas, edged out Singapore’s Delvin Goh, CLS’ Brandon Jawato and the Saigon Heat’s Chris Dierker to become the league’s first three-time Local MVP winner.
The incoming PBA rookie of Blackwater received the award during the simple awarding rites held before the resumption of the ABL Finals at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
Parks averaged 16.0 points on 52-percent shooting with 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists to help Alab finish second in the standings with an 18-8 record.
But Parks and Alab were swept by Hong Kong Eastern in the best-of-three quarterfinals, thus denying the Philippine squad a chance to retain its ABL crown.
The award is a fitting conclusion to Parks’ three-year career in the regional league highlighted by an ABL championship in 2018 when Alab beat Thailand’s Mono Vampire in five games.
Parks is set to play for Blackwater in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup which starts on May 19.
