Joshua Munzon

Joshua Eugene Munzon (born January 22, 1995) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines of the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league.

Joshua Munzon
Personal information
Born (1995-01-15) January 15, 1995
Long Beach, California
NationalityFilipino / American
Listed height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight89 kg (196 lb)
Career information
High schoolLong Beach Polytechnic High School
(Long Beach, California)
CollegeCalifornia State University
Playing career2016–present
PositionForward
Career history
2016–2017Saigon Heat
2017Westport Malaysia Dragons
2017PEA
2017–2018Westport Malaysia Dragons
2018IECO Green Warriors
2019AMA Online Education Titans
2019Gold's Gym–Pasig Kings (3x3)
2020Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines (3x3)

Early life and education

Joshua Eugene Munzon[1] was born on January 22, 1995.[2] He was born in Long Beach, California with his father being Filipino.[3] For his collegiate education, Munzon attended and graduated from the California State University in Los Angeles[4] Prior to committing to the 3x3 variant of basketball, Munzon played competitive 5-a-side basketball. In college, he played in the United States for the Cal State LA Golden Eagles in the NCAA Division II.[4]

Career

Saigon Heat

In 2016 shortly after graduating from college, he moved to Vietnam to join the Saigon Heat of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) to start his professional basketball career.[5] He played in the ABL as a "heritage player" for non-Philippine teams owing to his Filipino lineage.[4] He was part of Saigon Heat until January 2017.[6]

Westports Malaysia Dragons

Shortly after playing for Heat, he joined the Westports Malaysia Dragons in February 2017[7] and was part of the team for the rest of 2016–17 ABL season.[8] After the season, Munzon and Westport could not agree on a contract and Muzon sought to play for another ABL team. However the Malaysian team did not agree to release him to play for another ABL team due to what Munzon claims to be a result of a "gentlemen's agreement" that players will have to wait for a year before playing for another team.[8]

For the meantime, Munzon suited up for PEA in the Thailand Basketball League in 2017.[8] Munzon returned to the ABL rejoined the Westport Malaysia Dragons in late December 2017.[9]

iECO Green Warriors

In 2018, Munzon had a brief stint with the iECO Green Warriors, a PBA Developmental League selection team, which played in Asia League's The Terrific 12 tournament in Macau.[10]

AMA Online Education Titans

He entered the 2019 PBA Developmental League Rookie Draft, and was the first overall pick by the AMA Online Education Titans. He was anticipated to enter the 2019 PBA draft but decided to forego his participation to focus on 3x3.[4]

3X3

Munzon has played in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour. For the 2019 iteration, he played for Pasig Chooks.[11]

In the domestic scene, Munzon plays in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league.[12] It was in late 2018, that the proponents of the league reached out to Munzon to play 3x3. His participation in the 2019 season helped in boosting the Philippines FIBA 3x3 Federation ranking that qualified the country's national team's participation in the 2020 Summer Olympics qualifiers.[13] In the process, Munzon became part of the Top 100 of the individual FIBA 3x3 rankings at rank 89th and became the top-ranked Filipino player by June 2019.[14]

National team

Munzon is only eligible to play for the Philippine national basketball team as an import despite his Filipino heritage through his father since he acquired a Philippine passport after turning age 16 as per FIBA eligibility rules.[3] He instead represents the country through its national 3x3 team.

References
  1. "Munzon". FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2019. FIBA. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  2. Leongson, Randolph (January 24, 2019). "Birthday-boy Joshua Munzon gets timely gift as top D-League pick". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  3. Terrado, Reuben (March 10, 2017). "Sorry to disappoint you, guys, but Fil-Am Joshua Munzon not eligible for Gilas duty". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  4. Matel, Phillip (24 October 2019). "Joshua Munzon to skip this year's PBA draft". ESPN 5.
  5. Li, Matthew (March 26, 2017). "After seesaw year, Fil-Am Munzon grows up". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  6. Terrado, Reuben (January 31, 2017). "Saigon Heat let go of in-form Fil-Am guard Joshua Munzon in puzzling ABL move". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  7. Terrado, Reuben (February 1, 2017). "Fil-Am Joshua Munzon signs up with Malaysia Dragons after parting with Saigon Heat". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  8. Bacnis, Justine (December 13, 2017). "Where is Joshua Munzon?". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  9. Chen, Jian (December 27, 2017). "Westports Malaysia Dragons Add Two Players to ABL 8 Roster". ASEAN Sports. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  10. Dioquino, Delfin (September 21, 2018). "Fil-Am Joshua Munzon eyes PH as next stop". Rappler. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  11. Leongson, Randolph (October 24, 2019). "PBA rookie pool just got thinner as Fil-Am Joshua Munzon skips draft". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  12. Leongson, Randolph (September 3, 2020). "Jakarta 3x3 champs Munzon, Pasaol, Santillan, Rike reunite for local title bid". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  13. "Top-ranked Munzon chases 3x3 Olympic dream, forgoes PBA draft". Rappler. October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  14. Dalupang, Denison Rey (June 7, 2019). "Munzon now 89th in the world in 3×3". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
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