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Philippine professional basketball team
Blackwater Bossing
👁 Image
 2025–26 Blackwater Bossing season
👁 Blackwater Bossing logo
Founded2014
HistoryBlackwater Elite (2014–2021)
Blackwater Bossing (2021–present)
Team colorsRed, black, white
CompanyEver Bilena
Board governorSilliman Sy
Team managerJohnson Martinez
Rhona Tibor (assistant)
Head coachJeffrey Cariaso
OwnershipDioceldo S. Sy
Retired numbers1 (11)

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 started as one of the founding teams in the PBA Developmental League. It transferred to the PBA after being accepted as an expansion team. The team is named after Ever Bilena's brand of men's fragrances.

History

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PBA D-League

[edit]
Main article: Blackwater Sports

Blackwater was one of the founding teams in the PBA Developmental League (PBA D-League). It won one PBA D-League championship. The team's predecessor was the Blu Detergent team[1] in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), best known as the first Philippine basketball team of Asi Taulava.[2]

Establishment

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On April 10, 2014, Ever Bilena Cosmetics was granted an expansion team by the PBA Board of Governors. Ever Bilena's team would begin competing in the 2014–15 PBA season alongside Manila North Tollways Corporation's NLEX Road Warriors and Columbian Autocar Corporation's Kia Sorento[3] However, Ever Bilena as well as MNTC weren't allowed to carry-over their existing PBA D-League teams due to Columbian not having an existing team in the minor league. This meant that all three expansion teams would have to build their rosters from the ground up via the expansion draft, rookie draft, and free agency.[4][5]

With MNTC opting to acquire the Air21 Express to establish their new NLEX team, this meant that Blackwater and Kia would be the two teams who would participate in the 2014 PBA expansion draft. Among Blackwater's notable acquisitions include Eddie Laure, Paul Artadi, Bryan Faundo, and Riego Gamalinda. The team also selected veteran players Danny Ildefonso and Norman Gonzales, but both players ended up not playing for them.[6] In the rookie draft, Blackwater used their first-round pick to select Juami Tiongson.[7] During the preseason, the team also made a couple of trades which brought in Sunday Salvacion, Jason Ballesteros, and Larry Rodriguez.[8]

2014–2020: The Blackwater Elite era

[edit]

The team's first conference in the PBA was dismal, not winning a single game during the 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup. During the season, the team tried to bolster their roster with the acquisitions of Reil Cervantes from the Kia Carnival and Carlo Lastimosa from the Barako Bull Energy, but traded away Alex Nyules and Brian Heruela to do so,[9][10] and reinforcing with Gilas Pilipinas player Marcus Douthit during the import-laden conferences, but it wasn't enough. Although Blackwater finally got their first win in the 2015 PBA Commissioner's Cup against the San Miguel Beermen, the team finished 12th in the two remaining conferences.

It would have meant that Blackwater would be guaranteed the first pick of the 2015 PBA draft with the draft lottery abolished, but due to the Larry Rodriguez trade, they ended up swapping picks with the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters. Instead, Blackwater had the ninth pick, who they used to select Arthur dela Cruz. They then added Almond Vosotros with the 13th pick.[11] In the preseason, the team acquired former Alaska Aces star Mike Cortez from the Meralco Bolts as part of a larger three-team trade.[12] In the 2015–16 PBA Philippine Cup, the Elite were finally able to escape out of the bottom spot, securing a 10th-place finish with a 3–8 record. Due to the conference's format at the time, it was enough to send Blackwater to their first-ever playoff appearance. The team lost to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who had twice-to-beat advantage, in one game. However, the team wasn't able to go back to the playoffs, but did secure a young player in that of Roi Sumang from the GlobalPort Batang Pier as part of a greater six-team trade.[13]

In the 2016 PBA draft. Blackwater selected Mac Belo during the special round of the draft and used their first overall pick of the regular draft to select Raphael Banal.[14] In the 2016–17 PBA Philippine Cup, the team had their best record in the elimination round yet, a 5–6 record with a 9th-place finish. Tied with Rain or Shine for 8th place, both teams contested in a one-game playoff during which the Elite fell to the Elasto Painters.[15] Ahead of the 2017 Commissioner's Cup, Blackwater signed free agent Michael DiGregorio,[16] and during the conference acquired KG Canaleta in a trade with GlobalPort.[17] However, the team still fell to 11th. During the following Governors' Cup, the team traded with the Star Hotshots, sending Bambam Gamalinda and Kyle Pascual to Star while bringing in Allein Maliksi and Chris Javier.[18] With the help of their import in Henry Walker, who replaced Trevis Simpson after an 0–3 start, the team finished 8th in the conference. Despite getting a game off of advantage holders Meralco Bolts, the team couldn't close the series in the second game and were eliminated.

Blackwater had the third pick of the 2017 PBA draft, which they used to select Raymar Jose.[19] The Elite also brought back Mike Cortez, who was a free agent.[20] In the first two conferences of the season, the team failed to make the playoffs. On the plus side, Blackwater was able to take their talents internationally. On July 12, 2018, Blackwater Elite completed a six-game sweep of the Pacific Caesar 50th Anniversary Pro Tournament in Surabaya, Indonesia.[21] The following week, Blackwater and the NLEX Road Warriors represented the Philippines in the Super 8 tournament hosted by the Asia League (known today as the East Asia Super League) in Macau.[22] With import Henry Walker returning to reinforce the roster in the 2018 PBA Governors' Cup, the Elite had their best conference yet, a 5th-place finish with a 7–4 record. It still meant that they had to win back-to-back games against the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok in the quarterfinals, in which Magnolia defeated Blackwater in the first game.

Blackwater then had the second pick of the 2018 PBA draft, where they selected former NBA D-League player Bobby Ray Parks Jr.[23] Their preseason transactions saw the team trade away some of their key players, they first traded Paul Zamar to the San Miguel Beermen for a pair of second-round picks in seasons 47 and 48,[24] then sent Poy Erram to NLEX as part of a three-team trade with the TNT KaTropa and got Abu Tratter and Paul Desiderio in return.[25] The team didn't start the season well, finishing in last place in the 2019 Philippine Cup, but in the following Commissioner's Cup, the team went back up to a 7–4 record, and found themselves at third place, their highest placing yet. However, the team lost to Rain or Shine as the best-of-three quarterfinals reached its full length. During the Governors' Cup, the team engaged in multiple trades which saw a major reshuffling of the team. In summation, Tratter, DiGregorio, Parks Jr., Maliksi, and Jose well all sent to other teams. Blackwater acquired Carl Bryan Cruz, Don Trollano, Anthony Semerad, and Mike Tolomia as part of the series of trades as well as the returning Heruela and Canaleta.[26][27][28][29] Blackwater finished in the Governors' Cup in 12th place once more.

The 2019 PBA draft saw Blackwater select Rey Suerte in the special round followed by Maurice Shaw with the second overall pick of the regular draft. The team first traded Brian Heruela to the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters for Ron Dennison.[30] Then, Blackwater made another big transaction, trading away numerous assets. The team sent Poy Erram to the TNT Tropang Giga, and Anthony Semerad, Rabeh Al-Hussaini to the NLEX Road Warriors alongside two future draft picks. Their return package all came from TNT, with Marion Magat, Ed Daquioag, and Yousef Taha joining the Elite, though Taha didn't play for the team for the upcoming season, as well as two of TNT's future draft picks.[31] The team finished 10th place with a 2–9 record in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup, the lone conference of the 2020 season.

2021–present: The Blackwater Bossing era

[edit]

In August 2020, it was reported that the team would change its name to "Blackwater Bossing".[32] The new branding, including the team's logo and jersey design, was unveiled in September 2020.[33]

Current roster

[edit]
Blackwater Bossing roster
Players Coaches
Pos. # POB Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From
F/C 1 👁 Philippines
 		Abu Tratter 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1993–01–09 De La Salle
G 2 👁 United States
 		Sedrick Barefield 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1996–11–18 Utah
F 4 👁 United States
 		David Murrell 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1996–11–08 UP Diliman
G 5 👁 Philippines
 		Paul Zamar 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 179 lb (81 kg) 1987–10–20 UE
F/C 8 👁 Philippines
 		Bradwyn Guinto 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1991–10–20 San Sebastian
G 9 👁 Italy
 		Dalph Panopio(R) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 2000–06–10 Cal State Bakersfield
G/F 10 👁 Hong Kong
 		BJ Andrade 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1996–07–26 Ateneo
G 12 👁 Philippines
 		Jack Cruz-Dumont(R) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 2000–10–14 UE
C 13 👁 Philippines
 		Clifford Jopia 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1998–05–11 San Beda
F 14 👁 Philippines
 		Troy Mallillin 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999–01–04 Ateneo
G 16 👁 Philippines
 		RK Ilagan👁 Injured
 		5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 1997–04–03 San Sebastian
F 19 👁 Philippines
 		James Una(R) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 2001–03–19 San Sebastian
F 23 👁 Philippines
 		Richard Escoto 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1997–03–21 Far Eastern
G 24 👁 Philippines
 		Ichie Altamirano(R) 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 1997–08–21 San Sebastian
F 25 👁 Canada
 		Christian David 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1998–06–19 Butler
G 26 👁 Philippines
 		Jed Mendoza 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1996–06–21 UE
C 55 👁 United States
 		Robert Upshaw(CI) 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1994–01–05 Washington
F/C – 👁 Philippines
 		Ximone Sandagon👁 Injured
(R) 		6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 1999–03–10 Far Eastern
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Team manager


Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (CI) Commissioner's Cup Import
  • (GI) Governors' Cup Import
  • (EI) EASL Import
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (R) Rookie

Roster


Players

[edit]
Main article: Blackwater Bossing all-time roster

Imports

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Retired numbers

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Blackwater Bossing retired number
N° Player Position Tenure
11 Gilbert Bulawan PF/ C 2014–2016[a]

Coaches

[edit]
  1. Leo Isaac (2014–fired 2018)
  2. Bong Ramos (2018–fired 2019)
  3. Aries Dimaunahan (2019 as interim coach)
  4. Nash Racela (2019–fired 2020)
  5. Ariel Vanguardia (2021–2023 as interim coach)
  6. Jeffrey Cariaso (2023–present)

Season-by-season records

[edit]

List of the last five conferences completed by the Blackwater franchise. For the full-season history, see List of Blackwater Bossing seasons.

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage

Season Conference GP W L W–L% Finish Playoffs
2023–24 Philippine 11 4 7 .364 10th Did not qualify
2024–25 Governors' 10 5 5 .500 5th (Group B) Did not qualify
Commissioner's 12 3 9 .250 11th Did not qualify
Philippine 11 2 9 .182 10th Did not qualify
2025–26 Philippine 11 1 10 .091 11th Did not qualify
An asterisk (*) indicates one-game playoff; two asterisks (**) indicates team with twice-to-beat advantage

Awards

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Individual awards

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PBA Mythical Second Team

PBA Press Corps Individual Awards

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Defensive Player of the Year All-Rookie Team

All-Star Weekend

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All - Star Selection

2016

2017

2018

2019

  • Mac Belo

2024

See also

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "Blackwater set to join PBA as 11th franchise". Philstar.com. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  2. ^ Richard Dy (September 16, 2014). "Expansion ballclub Blackwater Sports keen to show it belongs ahead of PBA debut". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  3. ^ "PBA approves entry of new teams NLEX, Kia, Blackwater for next season". InterAksyon.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  4. ^ PBA approves entry of new teams NLEX, Kia, Blackwater for next season Archived October 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, InterAksyon.com, April 10, 2014
  5. ^ No direct amateur hires for expansion teams NLEX, Kia, Blackwater Archived April 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, InterAksyon.com, April 10, 2014
  6. ^ FLASH: Blackwater makes Danny Ildefonso the first pick of PBA dispersal draft, Snow Badua, spin.ph, July 18, 2014
  7. ^ "2014 PBA Draft Results". InterAksyon.com. August 24, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  8. ^ "Anthony to Meralco, Baloria to NLEX in three-team PBA transfer". Dugout.ph. Dugout Philippines. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  9. ^ Giongco, Mark (March 25, 2015). "Reil Cervantes shines in Blackwater return". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Ganglani, Naveen (July 2, 2015). "Blackwater trades Heruela to Barako Bull for Lastimosa". RAPPLER. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  11. ^ "Moala Tautuaa goes first overall in 2015 PBA Draft". Rappler. August 23, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
  12. ^ Ganglani, Naveen (August 7, 2015). "Jimmy Alapag to come out of retirement, will join Meralco after trade". rappler.com. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  13. ^ Verora Jr, Levi (May 11, 2016). "Full breakdown: Garcia to Star, Enciso to Phoenix, Dehesa to GBP, and more in 6-team PBA trade". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Dy, Adrian (October 31, 2016). "2016 PBA Draft results per-team". Slam Philippines. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  15. ^ Bacnis, Justine (February 3, 2017). "Rain or Shine ends Blackwater's playoff hopes to face San Miguel in QF". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  16. ^ "Signed up Michael Vincent Digregorio from Mahindra's free agent list". pba.ph. February 20, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  17. ^ "Blackwater acquires free agent Mark Cruz, trades for KG Canaleta in exchange for Ababou, Forrester". spin.ph. March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  18. ^ Rola, Alyssa (September 10, 2017). "Allein Maliksi set to be traded to Blackwater from Star - report". RAPPLER. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  19. ^ Bacnis, Justine (October 29, 2017). "Christian Standhardinger, Kiefer Ravena go 1-2; Jeron Teng falls to fifth". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  20. ^ Ramos, Gerry (December 4, 2017). "Mike Cortez returns to Blackwater as a free agent on one-conference contract". Spin.ph. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  21. ^ "Blackwater sweeps Pacific Caesar Basketball Pro tourney". Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  22. ^ Lintag, Paul (July 13, 2018). "SUPER 8: PBA's NLEX, Blackwater, set for Macau invitational". ABS-CBN Sports. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  23. ^ "The 2018 PBA Rookie Draft picks". GMA News Online. December 16, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2025.
  24. ^ "SMB trades for Terrence Romeo, Tubid, Zamar get PBA approval". Spin.ph. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  25. ^ Dioquino, Delfin. "It's official: NLEX gets Erram in 3-team trade involving Desiderio, Tratter". Rappler. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  26. ^ Morales, Luisa (September 6, 2019). "Alaska ships Cruz to Blackwater for Tratter". Philstar.com. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  27. ^ Dioquino, Delfin (October 19, 2019). "TNT gets Digregorio, trades Heruela to Blackwater". RAPPLER. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  28. ^ Ramos, Gerry (November 3, 2019). "Ray Parks now with TNT as PBA approves trade for Trollano, Semerad, draft pick". Spin.ph. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  29. ^ Lozada, Bong (October 25, 2019). "Maliksi to Meralco trade approved; Blackwater gets Tolomia, Canaleta". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  30. ^ Ramos, Gerry. "Blackwater trades Brian Heruela again, this time to Phoenix for Ron Dennison". Spin.ph. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  31. ^ Lintag, Paul Kennedy. "PBA: TNT finally lands Poy Erram in revised three-team trade". ABS-CBN Sports. Archived from the original on February 29, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  32. ^ Goodbye, Elite. Hello, Bossing as Blackwater to adopt new moniker, Gerry Ramos, spin.ph, August 1, 2020
  33. ^ From the wires (September 18, 2020). "Blackwater Bossing unveil new logo ahead of PBA bubble". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  34. ^ Blackwater set to retire jersey of fallen Gilbert Bulawan Archived July 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Rey Joble, Interaksyon.com, July 4, 2016
  35. ^ Blackwater gives tribute to late player Gilbert Bulawan after retiring jersey no.11, Gerry Ramos, SPIN.ph, July 16, 2016
  • Founded in 2014
  • Owned by Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc.
  • Formerly the Blackwater Elite
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