The 2002 Coca-Cola Tigers season was the first season of the franchise in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA).

Draft picks

New team

Formerly the

Pop Cola Panthers The Pop Cola Panthers were a professional basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association from 1990-2001. The franchise was owned by RFM Corporation. In 2001, when RFM Corporation sold its entire stake in Cosmos Bottling Cor ...

, RFM Corporation sold its entire stake in softdrink unit Cosmos Bottling Corporation and its PBA franchise to Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. The team was renamed Coca-Cola Tigers as a new ballclub. Records of the

were not retained.

Transactions

Occurrences

Key players Rudy Hatfield and Jeffrey Cariaso serve time for the national team in the first two conferences. Three other Tigers, rookie Rafi Reavis and center Poch Juinio played for RP-Selecta while Johnny Abarrientos played for RP-Hapee during the Governor's Cup.

Championship

The Coca Cola Tigers made history by becoming the first team to win a PBA title in its maiden season as they captured the season-ending All-Filipino Cup crown over the Alaska Aces, three games to one. The Tigers won their first championship on a historic night on Christmas Day with a 78-63 victory in Game four of the finals.

Roster

^{Team Manager: Hector Calma

Hector Calma (born March 2, 1960) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. At 5 feet and 8 inches, he played at the point guard position and was most notably associated with the San Miguel Beer team of the Philippine Basketbal ...}

Eliminations (Won games)

References

{{2002 PBA season by team Powerade Tigers seasons Coca