NLEX | THEIR TIME IS NOW?

There was talk accusing the TNT Tropang 5G of intentionally flubbing their match against Barangay Ginebra because they wanted to face the NLEX Road Warriors in the 2026 PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.

First, it’s unrealistic to think a team would do such a thing. I mean, if it were me, I’d rather beat the top teams early than worry about dealing with them later on. And even with everything happening around TNT, you can’t seriously believe the defending champions would willingly make themselves easy prey for Ginebra in back-to-back games.

Still, from a purely logical standpoint, it isn’t exactly a terrible strategy.

Ever since acquiring the franchise rights of the Air21 Express in 2014, the NLEX Road Warriors have never reached the PBA Finals, let alone won a championship. That’s pretty wild when you remember that NLEX dominated the early years of the PBA D-League, winning six of its first seven conferences before making the jump to the big time.

What makes things even crazier is that this season, only four NLEX players have won a PBA championship. And among those four, Robbie Herndon is the lone active player for NLEX. Kevin Alas is injured, Dave Marcelo has yet to suit up this conference, and Sidney Onwubere has been pushed into unrestricted free agency alongside Mike Miranda and Baser Amer.

Think about that for a second: both Miranda and Amer entered the league in 2015 and have never even played in a PBA Finals. Amer’s case feels especially unbelievable considering he won four straight NCAA titles with the San Beda Red Lions before turning pro. And if you really want perspective, Anthony Semerad — Amer’s longtime San Beda teammate who entered the PBA a year earlier in 2014 — also remains ringless up to now.

NLEX'S CHAMPIONSHIP DROUGHT

PLAYER	DRAFT	LAST CHAMPIONSHIP
ROBERT BOLICK	2019	2018 NCAA (SAN BEDA)
SCHONNY WINSTON	2023
ANTHONY SEMERAD	2014	2014 NCAA (SAN BEDA)
LJAY GONZALES	2025
JB BAHIO	2023
KEVIN ALAS	2014	2015 PBA COM CUP (TNT)
RICHIE RODGER	2023
XYRUS TORRES	2024
RENZ CAPULONG	2025
KEVIN RACAL	2015	2015 NCAA (LETRAN)
ENOCH VALDEZ	2023
BRANDON RAMIREZ	2024	2024 MPBL (PAMPANGA)
ARVIN GAMBOA	2025
DOMINIC FAJARDO	2023
ROBBIE HERNDON	2017	2022 PBA PHL CUP (SMB)
MATT NIETO	2019	2019 UAAP (ATENEO)
DAVE MARCELO | INJURED	2012	2023 PBA GOV CUP (TNT)
SIDNEY ONWUBERE | FA	2017	2022-23 PBA COM CUP (GIN)
BASER AMER | FA	2015	2014 NCAA (SAN BEDA)
MIKE MIRANDA | FA	2015

Last season, even Sean Anthony was part of the NLEX roster. Despite being a former Mythical First Team and Mythical Second Team member, he retired without ever winning a PBA championship.

For me, though, if there was ever a time for NLEX to finally break through, it’s now.

Their superstar, Robert Bolick, is practically the hands-down favorite for the Best Player of the Conference award, and he, too, has yet to win a championship since being drafted in 2018.

Honestly, the Gary David comparison isn’t far-fetched. Like “El Granada,” Bolick has piled up individual accolades and represented the country internationally. But fair or not, it becomes very easy for a player to slide down the all-time rankings once his career is over if he never wins a title.

That’s why this conference feels different for NLEX.

For NLEX, they really don’t have to look far for a blueprint—just look at what their sister team, the Meralco Bolts, accomplished.

Like the Road Warriors, it took Meralco more than a decade to finally break through and win its first PBA championship. The key difference wasn’t necessarily talent acquisition alone, but the establishment of a clear, disciplined system that was consistently applied to a core group of “lifers” who stayed within the program long enough to absorb it.

Once that system finally clicked, everything fell into place.

Unlike previous seasons, they now have a multi-titled coach in Jong Uichico calling the shots, while import Cady Lalanne has shown he can shift gears whenever the situation demands it. And for Bolick, Kevin Racal — whose last championship also came back in college — and the younger guys on the roster, this is their chance to prove that NLEX is more than just the “third MVP team.”