Gabby Espinas

Gabby Espinas
	Manila Stars
2021	JPS Zamboanga City
2021	Sarangani Marlins
2022	Ormoc – OCCCI Sheer Masters
2022	Sarangani Marlins
2022–present	Caloocan Batang Kankaloo
Career highlights and awards
	6× PBA champion (2013 Commissioner's, 2015 Governors', 2015–16 Philippine, 2016–17 Philippine, 2017 Commissioner's, 2017–18 Philippine); 2009); All- 2023); NCAA Philippines Most Valuable Player (2004); NCAA Philippines Rookie of the Year (2004);

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

Most Valuable Player of the NCAA while playing for the PCU Dolphins

.

Amateur career

Espinas began to play for PCU in the NCAA in the

Loreto Tolentino

, the Dolphins made it to the Final Four for the first time since 2002.

After defeating the defending champion

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 in 2005 for the Harbour Centre Portmasters playing alongside Mark Cardona, LA Tenorio, 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. 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

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 and Lordy Tugade plus the return from injury of Danny Ildefonso.

The San Miguel Beermen traded Espinas for the Air21 Express' first round pick in the 2008 PBA draft.^[1]

He was then traded by the

2009 PBA Draft. The pick was then used to draft Japeth Aguilar as the first overall in 2009 by the Whoopers.^[2]

In 2009, he was again traded to the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 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.^[3]

On March 14, 2015, he was traded to

GlobalPort Batang Pier in exchange for Nonoy Baclao and a 2017 first round draft pick.^[4]

On April 6, 2015, Espinas was traded back to the Beermen as part of a 4-team, 6-player trade.[5]

PBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Correct as of October 4, 2016^[6]

Season-by-season averages

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006–07	San Miguel	47	9.9	.519	.000	.582	2.9	.4	.2	.3	3.6
2007–08	Magnolia / Air21	20	9.2	.412	.143	.643	1.7	.3	.2	.2	2.6
2008–09	Red Bull / Barako Bull	33	27.9	.482	.212	.634	8.4	1.2	.4	.5	12.4
2009–10	Sta. Lucia	37	20.3	.516	.000	.616	5.3	.7	.2	.4	7.2
2010–11	Meralco	32	31.1	.487	.000	.691	8.6	1.2	.4	.7	12.1
2011–12	Meralco	34	27.8	.465	.500	.643	6.8	.9	.4	.6	11.2
2012–13	Alaska	54	17.6	.515	.000	.673	4.0	.6	.1	.3	7.5
2013–14	Alaska	43	24.5	.538	.000	.628	6.7	1.1	.4	.2	10.2
2014–15	Alaska / GlobalPort / San Miguel	32	11.8	.573	.000	.620	2.3	.4	.2	.1	3.7
2015–16	San Miguel	47	14.3	.540	.500	.689	3.4	.5	.2	.2	5.4
Career		379	19.3	.504	.220	.646	5.0	.7	.3	.3	7.6

Personal life

Espinas was born to an

African-American father, who was once stationed in Subic

but died when Gabby was only five years old, and to a Filipina mother.

References

^ Air21 acquires Espinas; Carey Cardona fined, suspended Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Philippine Daily Inquirer
^ "PBA-Online". PBA-Online.
^ Belen, Reynaldo. "Alaska, Meralco swap big men Jay-R Reyes, Gabby Espinas". www.interaksyon.com. InterAksyon.com. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
^ Dy, Richard. "Alaska trades Gabby Espinas for Globalport big man Noy Baclao". www.spin.ph. spin.ph. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
^ Ganglani, Naveen. "Ginebra, San Miguel, GlobalPort, Barako Bull complete 4-team trade". www.rappler.ph. rappler.ph. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
^ Player at PBA-Online!

External links

[1] Air21 acquires Espinas; Carey Cardona fined, suspended Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Philippine Daily Inquirer

[2] "PBA-Online". PBA-Online.

[3] Belen, Reynaldo. "Alaska, Meralco swap big men Jay-R Reyes, Gabby Espinas". www.interaksyon.com. InterAksyon.com. Retrieved January 9, 2015.

[4] Dy, Richard. "Alaska trades Gabby Espinas for Globalport big man Noy Baclao". www.spin.ph. spin.ph. Retrieved March 14, 2015.

[5] Ganglani, Naveen. "Ginebra, San Miguel, GlobalPort, Barako Bull complete 4-team trade". www.rappler.ph. rappler.ph. Retrieved April 12, 2015.

[6] Player at PBA-Online!

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