Rommel Niño T. "KG" Canaleta (born February 12, 1982) is a Filipino professional basketball coach. He is currently the assistant coach for the

Taichung Suns The Taichung Suns ( zh, 臺中太陽) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Taichung City, Taiwan. They compete in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home game at the National Taiwan University of Sport Gymna ...

of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

. He is also a former basketball player who played majority of his career 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). A 6-6 athletic forward, he is fondly called by nicknames like ''KG'', ''The Big Ticket'', and ''The Da Vinci of Dunk''. He won the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

PBA Slam Dunk Contests and led 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 ...

to a third-place finish in the

2006 PBA Philippine Cup 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Professional career

PBA

He made a serious run for the Rookie of the Year honors with an impressive Philippine Cup campaign where he averaged 16.2 points per game, No. 1 among rookies and seventh in the tournament among locals. But a so-so performance in the Fiesta Conference and two finals stints of

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 ...

made

Larry Fonacier Larry Alexander Nacua Fonacier (born May 13, 1982) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted fourteenth overall by the Red Bull Barako in the 2005 PBA ...

a no-brainer for the award. Canaleta is undoubtedly one of the biggest attractions in the league with his jaw-dropping, never-seen slams by a local player. Canaleta was a back-to-back-to-back winner of the Slam Dunk competition, both by convincing fashion. He was ranked no. 2 in scoring among rookies during his rookie year with 9.4 points per outing. Canaleta was the first Philippine Basketball Association player to become a 5-time PBA Slam Dunk Champion. On 2011 PBA All-Star Weekend, he dunked on 3 men in the final round against

Kelly Williams Kelly Williams (born February 7, 1982) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga in the PBA. He played collegiate basketball at Oakland University, an NCAA Division I school in the United States, and he ...

to win his 4th PBA Slam Dunk Champion Award. On

, Canaleta did it again after dunking on 3-men, including 6-foot-9

Asi Taulava Pauliasi Taulava (born March 2, 1973) is a Tongan-born Filipino professional basketball player for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is the oldest active player in the league. Standing 6 ft 9 in (2 ...

to win his 5th Slam Dunk Award. He was also awarded by the PBA to be the Mr. Quality Minutes Player in 2010. On December 5, 2012, Canaleta scored a career-high 41 points in their 112-93 win against

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 ...

. Canaleta was named the PBA Press Corps' Player of the Week for the period April 8–14, 2013 after dropping 37 points anchored on 9-18 shooting from 3-point land in their come-from-behind win over Petron, 95-91. On January 20, 2014, Canaleta was traded by Air21 to

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT (cellular service), TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Associat ...

for Sean Anthony,

Eliud Poligrates Eliud Poligrates is a Filipino professional basketball player. He was drafted 27th overall in the 2013 PBA draft by Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters. Amateur career Eliud was brought in by Southwestern University scouts after he was discovered pla ...

, and a 2016 first-round pick. On October 9, 2014, Canaleta was traded from Talk 'N Text to NLEX in a three-team trade that involved

Blackwater Elite The Blackwater Bossing is a professional basketball team owned by Ever Bilena, Inc. that is playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) beginning in the 2014–2015 season. The franchise began as one of the founding teams in the PB ...

. On August 25, 2015, Canaleta was traded by NLEX to

Mahindra Enforcer The Terrafirma Dyip is a professional basketball team playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The team is owned by Terrafirma Realty Development Corporation and originally played under its affiliate company Columbian Autocar Cor ...

in a three-team trade that also involved Talk 'N Text. On March 29, Canaleta was traded to the

in exchange for

Dylan Ababou Dylan Simon Rosales Ababou (born December 7, 1986) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He played for seven teams during his career in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted 10th overall in 2011 by the Barako ...

and James Forrester. On January 10, 2018, while playing for the

Meralco Bolts The Meralco Bolts is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team began in 2010 after the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) acquired the PBA franchise of the Sta. Lucia Realtors. The team is one of three ...

, Canaleta became the 87th member of the elite 5,000 points club, 83rd among locals, in the Bolts 103-98 loss to the Alaska Aces. On October 25, 2019, Canaleta, along with

Mike Tolomia Cris Michael Solis Tolomia (born January 6, 1993) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Converge FiberXers of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He won a UAAP championship with the FEU Tamaraws. College career Seas ...

and two second round draft picks in 2020 and 2022, was traded to the

for

Allein Maliksi Allein Gail Q. Maliksi (born September 18, 1987) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted 8th by the Petron Blaze Boosters in the 2011 PBA draft. College ...

and

Raymar Jose Raymar A. Jose is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was selected 3rd overall by Blackwater Elite in the 2017 PBA draft. Early life and high school career Jose's ...

. This was his second stint with the Elite.

Taiwan

On March 19, 2022, Canaleta signed with

Taichung Wagor Suns The Taichung Suns ( zh, 臺中太陽) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Taichung City, Taiwan. They compete in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home game at the National Taiwan University of Sport Gymna ...

of the

. On December 20, Canaleta signed with

of the

as assistant coach.

PBA career statistics

''As of the end of 2021 season''
Real GM

Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align="left" rowspan="3" , Barako Bull Energy, Air21 , 52 , , 21.0 , , .388 , , .304 , , .707 , , 3.8 , , .6 , , .3 , , .3 , , 9.4 , - , align=left , , 41 , , 25.8 , , .395 , , .331 , , .703 , , 5.8 , , .8 , , .4 , , .7 , , 11.9 , - , align=left , , 50 , , 23.5 , , .397 , , .332 , , .681 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .6 , , 10.4 , - , align=left , , align=left , Air21 / Purefoods , 37 , , 18.1 , , .353 , , .220 , , .736 , , 3.9 , , .8 , , .3 , , .3 , , 5.8 , - , align=left , , align=left , Purefoods / B-Meg , 58 , , 17.5 , , .379 , , .345 , , .596 , , 2.6 , , .9 , , .3 , , .4 , , 8.1 , - , align=left , , align=left , B-Meg / Air21 , 43 , , 20.0 , , .374 , , .342 , , .804 , , 3.7 , , .5 , , .4 , , .5 , , 8.0 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

Barangay Ginebra The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidia ...

, 36 , , 17.2 , , .413 , , .364 , , .739 , , 3.3 , , .7 , , .2 , , .3 , , 8.7 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

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 ...

, 39 , , 30.6 , , .397 , , .369 , , .739 , , 5.3 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .6 , , 16.7 , - , align=left , , align=left , Air21 /

Talk 'N Text TNT (formerly known as Piltel, Mobiline, Phone Pal, and still unofficially known as Talk 'N Text) is a cellular service of Smart Communications in the Philippines. By April 2000, Piltel launched its GSM brand, Talk 'N Text. Piltel also reporte ...

, 48 , , 23.8 , , .388 , , .351 , , .769 , , 4.1 , , .7 , , .5 , , .2 , , 10.2 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

NLEX The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network, partially as N160 of the Philippine highway network, and R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a limited-access toll expressway that connects M ...

, 36 , , 20.1 , , .382 , , .327 , , .762 , , 3.3 , , .6 , , .2 , , .1 , , 8.1 , - , align=left , , align=left , Mahindra , 32 , , 25.3 , , .425 , , .354 , , .841 , , 3.8 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , .4 , , 11.7 , - , align=left , , align=left , GlobalPort / Blackwater , 36 , , 23.5 , , .372 , , .347 , , .745 , , 4.1 , , .9 , , .4 , , .4 , , 8.4 , - , 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 ...

, 37 , , 19.4 , , .394 , , .374 , , .722 , , 3.7 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , .3 , , 8.6 , - , align=left , , align=left , Meralco / Blackwater , 25 , , 12.7 , , .436 , , .429 , , .833 , , 2.0 , , .9 , , .2 , , .2 , , 6.6 , - , align=left , , align="left" rowspan="2" , Blackwater , 11 , , 25.4 , , .398 , , .347 , , .765 , , 4.3 , , .7 , , .2 , , .5 , , 11.7 , - , align=left , , 13 , , 16.0 , , .306 , , .190 , , .727 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , .2 , , .6 , , 4.6 , -class=sortbottom , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 594 , , 21.4 , , .390 , , .341 , , .723 , , 3.7 , , .8 , , .3 , , .4 , , 9.5

Awards

* Mr. Quality Minutes Award (2010) * Five-time PBA Slam Dunk Champion (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012) * PBA All Rookie First Team (2005–2006) * Scored a record 38 Points in the PBA Rookie Game * 2013 PBA Most Improved Player

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canaleta, KG 1982 births Living people Air21 Express players Barako Bull Energy draft picks Barako Bull Energy players Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Basketball players from Tarlac Blackwater Bossing players FIBA 3x3 World Tour players Filipino expatriate basketball people in Taiwan Filipino men's 3x3 basketball players Filipino men's basketball players Filipino people of African-American descent Ilocano people Kapampangan people Magnolia Hotshots players Meralco Bolts players NLEX Road Warriors players NorthPort Batang Pier players People from Tarlac City Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards Taichung Wagor Suns players Terrafirma Dyip players TNT Tropang Giga players UE Red Warriors basketball players