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The chance to come back home was simply too hard to pass up for Jimmy Alapag despite prospects to continue his coaching career in the NBA.
Alapag, who spent the last three years as a player development coach for NBA team Sacramento Kings, is back in the country to call the shots for the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA, his old stomping ground where he evolved into one of the most celebrated figures in Philippine basketball.
“It just felt like it was the right time. Almost six years in the NBA, I’ve had an opportunity to see a lot, to learn a lot, and I know how much it’s allowed me to grow, not just as a husband and as a father, but also as a coach,” said Alapag.
“To have an opportunity to come back and be able to pour all of that knowledge and all of the wisdom that I’ve gained in the NBA, pour that back into Philippine basketball, it felt like now is the right time.”
Leaving home
Born in the United States to Filipino parents, Alapag moved to the Philippines in the early 2000s and joined the PBA in 2003 as the 10th overall pick of Talk ’N Text.
It did not take long for the 5-foot-9 guard to establish himself as one of the best players in the league as he won Rookie of the Year, earned a Mythical First Team selection, and helped lead the flagship franchise of the MVP Group to its first official PBA championship — the 2003 All-Filipino Cup — in just his first season.
Alapag spent 12 seasons with Talk ’N Text, winning league MVP honors in 2011 and steering the team to six titles, two of which saw him named Finals MVP.
It was also during his time with Talk ’N Text that Alapag starred for Gilas Pilipinas, leading the national team on a memorable run that culminated in the Philippines’ return to the FIBA World Cup in 2014 after a 36-year absence.
Following a brief retirement in 2015, Alapag joined Meralco for a season before finally hanging up his spurs in 2016, ending his playing career as the PBA’s all-time three-point leader by surpassing league icon Allan Caidic.
Alapag then transitioned into coaching, and just less than two years since he retired from the PBA, he won his first championship as a head coach by guiding Alab Pilipinas to the ASEAN Basketball League crown in 2018.
But like many Filipinos whose lives were upended by the pandemic, Alapag made the difficult decision to uproot his family as he, wife LJ Moreno, and their children Ian Maximus, Keona Skye, and Calen Asher left the Philippines in 2020 to begin a new chapter in the United States.
The move ultimately led Alapag to the NBA.
In 2021, Alapag joined the Kings’ Summer League coaching staff led by former NBA veteran Bobby Jackson, before being named an assistant coach for the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings, later that year.
He was then promoted to a Kings’ player development coach in 2023, a post he held until the end of the 2025-2026 season.
Alapag’s return to the Philippines, though, is not because of the absence of other opportunities in the NBA.
In fact, Alapag said he had been in talks with several NBA teams when a conversation with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Erika Dy about a possible role as a Gilas assistant coach paved the way for him to land the NLEX head coaching job.
“At the time when I got the phone call from miss Erika, I was still in contact with probably seven or eight NBA teams and exploring potential opportunities as a player development coach, possibly as an assistant coach,” said Alapag.
“Once the conversation started about Gilas and a possible opportunity to come home and be a head coach, it just felt like the right time to come home. It’s a great time for, not just myself, but also for LJ and the kids, they get a chance to see what it’s like to be home. I’m thankful for that. It was the right time.”
For Moreno, who held down the fort at home while Alapag was away for the Kings’ road games, returning to the Philippines and being closer to their loved ones was not a difficult decision, especially after their family grew with the arrival of their fourth child, Cayson Amory, in 2023.
“It’s a blessing to be able to come back,” said Moreno.
“Basically during NBA season, it’s like I’m solo parenting. Even during home games, he would early. I’ll prepare the kids for school, drive them to school, pick them up from school. All my kids, except for the youngest, is in sports, so I drive them to practices. And then I have to clean, do the laundry, so it’s really exhausting. Exhausted is the word then you’re in the States.”
New challenge
A proven winner, Alapag takes on the daunting task of turning an NLEX side that has reached the semifinals only twice into a title contender.
It helps that Alapag learned from one of the sharpest basketball minds in Mike Brown, who guided the New York Knicks to the 2025-26 NBA championship that ended the franchise’s 53-year title drought.
Brown was the Kings’ head coach when Alapag joined the team before he was fired in 2024 and then hired by the Knicks in 2025.
“I just want to do my best to uplift the NLEX players. I think, as a coach, it’s something that I learned from coach Brown during our time together in Sacramento before he moved on to New York and won an NBA championship,” said Alapag.
“He was all about being positive with players and really trying to encourage them, uplift them, to allow them to play and perform at their best. That’s one of the many thing that I’m going to try to implement now that I’m here.”
And the Road Warriors gave Alapag a warm welcome as they opened the 2026 Governors’ Cup with a 114-75 thrashing of guest team Macau Giant Pandas on Friday, July 10 — their most lopsided victory in franchise history.
While Alapag is aware of the formidable challenge, he is simply grateful to be back on familiar ground.
“It’s home,” said Alapag. “To be able to go through this new journey with the family and have my kids be able to experience this with me, it means a lot.” – Rappler.com
