Tinyente is on cloud nine after yet another championship, but it appears he misses two of his fellow grizzled warriors.
LA Tenorio may still be in an emotional high, but the gravity of Barangay Ginebra’s Commissioner’s Cup conquest is not lost on him.
In an Instagram post, Tinyente admitted to feeling “a different sense of gratitude” for winning the Commissioner’s Cup title as he played through injury, sacrificed family time, and helped Ginebra beat a formidable foreign team.
Tinyente also waxed sentimental about this latest championship because it is his first Ginebra title without both Mark Caguioa and Joe Devance.
Tenorio has a long history, in particular, with Caguioa, having shared the Ginebra backcourt with The Spark for nearly a decade. The two guards first became teammates in 2012, when Tinyente was traded to the barangay in a multi-player mega-deal that also involved Willie Miller, Enrico Villanueva, and JVee Casio.
Caguioa and Tenorio’s partnership did not exactly lead to championships right away, as the best the two could do was lead Ginebra to the 2012–2013 Commissioner’s Cup Finals. After that, the two superstars had to endure the Gin Kings’ so-called kangkong years, when the team would routinely get the boot in either the quarterfinals or the semis — or not qualify for the playoffs at all.
But the star backcourt’s fortunes changed in 2016 with the entry of Tim Cone, and Devance along with him. Fittingly, all three of Tenorio, Devance, and Caguioa played a role in turning Ginebra into a championship team again.
Tenorio, in particular, has been spectacular in each of the Gin Kings’ seven championship runs in the Cone Era, playing heavy minutes, quarterbacking the team, and hitting timely buckets. Devance, on the other hand, was a valuable off-the-bench big in the Gin Kings’ six previous titles but retired prior to the start of the 2023 Philippine Cup. Caguioa, meanwhile, saw his minutes diminish drastically under Cone, but was a calming influence in the Ginebra locker room nonetheless (and an occasional spark on the court) during the team’s first five championships under Cone.
Now, Tenorio is the only grizzled warrior left in the Ginebra camp, but best believe he would love to win one more with his co-veterans.