By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots rookie Jerom Lastimosa is sitting out the entire 2024 PBA Governors’ Cup as he continues to recover from his anterior cruciate ligament injury.

According to Hotshots head coach Chito Victolero, the Negrense guard is still in the process of working his way back from the knee injury he sustained during his time with the Adamson University Falcons.

“Jerom told me [that] he started with plyo and by this month, he’ll start running. The goal is for him to join practice by October or November but, definitely, he won’t play for this conference,” Victolero said.

“According to the medical staff, he can start training in October, but only for running. I don’t think that’ll cut it because this conference might end in November,” the veteran Magnolia coach added.

Victolero said that the Hotshots are not rushing Lastimosa back to action as they want the former Gilas Pilipinas guard to be fully healthy before he makes his PBA debut.

“We don’t want to force Jerom and have his knee re-injured. We want him to be healthy when he returns, so we won’t have anything to think about,” Victolero said.

“Jerom is a very special player. We picked him as someone who can really help this team but, for now, since he’s out, we’ll just fill in that space when it comes to offense,” he added./ASC, WDJ