Gabriel Espinas (born January 3, 1982) is a Filipino professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the Batang Kankaloo – Caloocan of the

Pilipinas Super League The Pilipinas Super League (PSL) is a professional basketball league in the Philippines. History The Pilipinas Super League (PSL) was founded in December 2021 by former officials of another league; the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup. It was estab ...

. A 6'4"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he was drafted fifth overall by the Beermen in the 2006 PBA draft. He made a name in the amateur ranks as the first-ever Rookie of the Year-

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

while playing for the PCU Dolphins.

Amateur career

Espinas began to play for PCU in the NCAA in the 2004 season. With Espinas, Robert Sanz,

Jayson Castro Jayson Castro William (born June 30, 1986) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). His moniker is "The Blur" for his speed. He played for the Philippine Christian Un ...

, and Ian Garrido playing together with head coach Loreto Tolentino, the Dolphins made it to the Final Four for the first time since 2002. After defeating the defending champion

Letran Knights The Letran Knights are the collegiate varsity teams representing Colegio de San Juan de Letran in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The collegiate women's varsity teams are called the ''Lady Knights'', while the high school varsity t ...

, PCU defeated the UPHSD Altas in the finals with Espinas scoring double-double numbers in the Final Four and the championship series. He became the first NCAA player to be named as the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player in the same season. San Beda's Sam Ekwe followed suit in the 2006 season. From 2005–06, he led the Dolphins to the finals only to lose to Letran and San Beda, respectively. However, he was still named to the Mythical Five in both seasons. He debuted in the

Philippine Basketball League The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league was composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars. History The PBL was formed on Ma ...

in 2005 for the Harbour Centre Portmasters playing alongside

Mark Cardona Mark Reynan Mikesell Cardona (born November 13, 1981) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Boracay Islanders of the Pilipinas Super League. From a successful college career with the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers, ...

LA Tenorio Lewis Alfred Vasquez Tenorio (born July 9, 1984) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is also an assistant coach for the Letran Knights of the Philip ...

, Magnum Membrere, and PCU teammates Castro and Sanz. After a stint with Harbour, he played his final two conferences with the Hapee-PCU squad, leading them to the semifinals in the Heroes Cup.

Professional career

In the 2006 PBA Draft, Espinas was drafted fifth overall by the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra ...

. After his time with PCU, he was quickly signed by San Miguel to a rookie contract. He made his PBA debut in a game against

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

and played an impressive performance despite the loss. He then played the reserve role for the Beermen after the team acquired the services of

Rommel Adducul Rommel Adducul (born April 21, 1976) is a Filipino former professional basketball player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Adamson Soaring Falcons of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, UAAP. Career In colleg ...

and

Lordy Tugade Lordy Tugade (born December 30, 1977 in Alaminos, Pangasinan) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player. He last played for the Powerade Tigers in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/specia ...

plus the return from injury of

Danny Ildefonso Danilo Ildefonso (born December 9, 1976) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He is currently an assistant coach for both the Converge FiberXers of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the NU Bulldogs of the UAAP. Nick ...

. The

traded Espinas for the

Air21 Express The Air21 Express were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that debuted in the 2011–12 season. The team debuted as the Shopinas.com Clickers during the 2011–12 PBA Philippine Cup. In 2014, the fra ...

' first round pick in the 2008 PBA draft. He was then traded by the

to the

Red Bull Barako Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

for a first round pick in the 2009 PBA Draft. The pick was then used to draft

Japeth Aguilar Japeth Paul Cabrera Aguilar (born January 25, 1987) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He first played college basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagles of ...

as the first overall in 2009 by the Whoopers. In 2009, he was again traded to the

Sta. Lucia Realtors The Sta. Lucia Realtors were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1993 to 2010. Prior to joining the PBA, it played in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) from 1987 to 1992. In 2015, a new Sta. ...

, his fourth team, for Sta. Lucia's 2009 first round pick. In 2012, he was traded to the Alaska Aces in exchange for

Jay-R Reyes Jay-R C. Reyes (born July 16, 1984) is a Filipino former professional basketball player who last played for the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters of the Philippine Basketball Association. Professional career Reyes was the youngest player in the 200 ...

. On March 14, 2015, he was traded to

GlobalPort Batang Pier The NorthPort Batang Pier is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team that first played in the 2012–13 PBA season. The team took over the franchise of the Powerade Tigers in 2012 after it was sold to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Besides Nor ...

in exchange for

Nonoy Baclao Siverino A. "Nonoy" Baclao Jr. (born June 15, 1987) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). A forward, he played three seasons for the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles in th ...

and a 2017 first round draft pick. On April 6, 2015, Espinas was traded back to the Beermen as part of a 4-team, 6-player trade.

PBA career statistics

''Correct as of October 4, 2016''Player
at PBA-Online!

Season-by-season averages

, - , align="left" , , align="left" , San Miguel , 47 , , 9.9 , , .519 , , .000 , , .582 , , 2.9 , , .4 , , .2 , , .3 , , 3.6 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Magnolia /

Air21 Air21 Airlines was a short-lived United States airline based in Fresno, California, led by Mark Morro, founded by David Miller and co-founded by David J. VanderLugt. The airline operated five Fokker F28 Fellowship 64-passenger twin engine jet ...

, 20 , , 9.2 , , .412 , , .143 , , .643 , , 1.7 , , .3 , , .2 , , .2 , , 2.6 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Red Bull / Barako Bull , 33 , , 27.9 , , .482 , , .212 , , .634 , , 8.4 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .5 , , 12.4 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Sta. Lucia , 37 , , 20.3 , , .516 , , .000 , , .616 , , 5.3 , , .7 , , .2 , , .4 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Meralco The Manila Electric Company (), also known as Meralco (, ), is an electric power distribution company in the Philippines. It is Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 22 cities and 89 munic ...

, 32 , , 31.1 , , .487 , , .000 , , .691 , , 8.6 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .7 , , 12.1 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Meralco , 34 , , 27.8 , , .465 , , .500 , , .643 , , 6.8 , , .9 , , .4 , , .6 , , 11.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, 54 , , 17.6 , , .515 , , .000 , , .673 , , 4.0 , , .6 , , .1 , , .3 , , 7.5 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Alaska , 43 , , 24.5 , , .538 , , .000 , , .628 , , 6.7 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .2 , , 10.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Alaska / GlobalPort / San Miguel , 32 , , 11.8 , , .573 , , .000 , , .620 , , 2.3 , , .4 , , .2 , , .1 , , 3.7 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , San Miguel , 47 , , 14.3 , , .540 , , .500 , , .689 , , 3.4 , , .5 , , .2 , , .2 , , 5.4 , -class=sortbottom , align="center" colspan=2 , Career , 379 , , 19.3 , , .504 , , .220 , , .646 , , 5.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , .3 , , 7.6

Personal life

Espinas was born to an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

father, who was once stationed in Subic but died when Gabby was only five years old, and to a Filipina mother.

References

External links

Espinas boosts stock, gets NCAA Player of Week award

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinas, Gabby 1982 births Living people Alaska Aces (PBA) players Barako Bull Energy players Basketball players from Zambales Filipino men's basketball players Filipino people of African-American descent Meralco Bolts players PCU Dolphins basketball players NorthPort Batang Pier players Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Power forwards (basketball) San Miguel Beermen players Sportspeople from Olongapo Sta. Lucia Realtors players Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League players San Miguel Beermen draft picks