Will it be another overseas stint or a return to the PBA for Javi Gomez de Liaño after his KBL stint?
Javi Gomez de Liaño is at a career crossroads after his exit from the Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters in the Korean Basketball League.
Currently with Strong Group Athletics for the 2025 William Jones Cup, Gomez de Liaño shared that playing overseas remains his primary goal after being released by Anyang over the KBL offseason.
“I don’t know if you guys know, but I got terminated from my team in the KBL, which is very unfortunate,” Gomez de Liaño told the media during Strong Group’s open practice on Wednesday, July 9.
“I didn’t expect that, but moving forward, I still hope to play overseas after this tournament [Jones Cup]. I’m focused on this tournament, and after talking it out with my agents, we’ll] see what options we have, but everything’s open.”
A return to the PBA also remains an option for Gomez de Liaño, who last played for the Terrafirma Dyip prior to signing with Anyang. In fact, Terrafirma was actually close to trading the forward, which was only stalled due to the franchise’s impending sale.
“Before I signed with my KBL team last month, I was really leaning towards going back to the PBA. They were supposed to work on a trade for this certain team, but they couldn’t trade me because our team’s on a freeze,” Gomez de Liaño bared.
“So while they’re selling the team, they can’t trade the players. So if ever man, sa August pa or September, so that was too long for me to wait, so I decided to play one more year with KBL,” added Gomez de Liaño.
If Gomez de Liaño does return to the PBA, a huge reason for that would also be his younger brother, Juan, who has plans to declare for the Season 50 draft. But again, everything remains up in the air for the versatile forward.
Gomez de Liaño also expressed his well wishes toward Terrafirma, hoping that the franchise’s potential buyer can instill a winning culture within the organization.
“When you have players with a winning mindset, it can really turn around the franchise,” said Gomez de Liaño, who was a key part of Terrafirma’s breakthrough Season 48 Philippine Cup run alongside Juami Tiongson and Stephen Holt.
“So whoever buys Terrafirma, and if ever I decide to come back, I want to bring that winning mindset back. And hopefully it won’t be a farm team again or kulelat. I hope the next team that buys it, not just the players, hopefully the management and team owner wants to win.”
For now, Javi Gomez de Liaño is focused on Strong Group’s campaign in the Jones Cup, where he gets to team up with the likes of Kiefer Ravena, Andre Roberson, Rhenz Abando, and ex-NBA talent Andre Roberson, to name a few.
“I’m hoping that we repeat the success that we had in 2020, and I already think that we can. This squad is very deep and I can’t wait to play our first game,” said Gomez de Liaño, with Strong Group opening their Jones Cup run against Chinese Taipei this July 13.
Banner images from Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters on Instagram.