Rey Suerte and BJ Andrade’s one-on-one trade between Blackwater and Converge was approved by the PBA Commissioner’s Office on Tuesday.

The season-ending Philippine Cup, which begins in late March, will see Suerte and Andrade play for their new sides.

The Bossing, who selected the wingman from University of the Visayas and University of the East as the No. 2 pick in the 2019 special Gilas draft, had Suerte, 30, play for them for over three years.

He will rejoin former Gilas Pilipinas teammates Mike Nieto, Jordan Heading, and Justine Baltazar at Converge, providing the FiberXers with an additional shooter at the wings in addition to Heading, Nieto, Kevin Racal, and Bryan Santos.

Andrade, 28, was originally selected by Converge in the first round (No. 10) of the Season 48 draft and, like Suerte, will be playing for his second PBA team.

He missed his debut season’s first two conferences with the FiberXers while recovering from an ACL injury, but this Season 49, he has been in coach Franco Atienza’s rotation.

Uncle Danny Ildefonso, a member of the Converge coaching team, will be leaving him when he moves to Blackwater.

Meanwhile, Yeng Guiao, the head coach of Rain or Shine, compared his team’s situation to pounding on a door repeatedly, believing that one day it will open again for them.

There is no more poetic way to describe their current predicament, thus Coach Yeng is undoubtedly skilled with words.

Guiao and the other Elasto Painters are at that exact door for the third consecutive conference, with only one person able to enter. They are up against the same TNT Tropang Giga team, who are trying to bar them from entering again after kicking them out of the previous Governors’ Cup.

The PBA’s ultimate stage, a seven-game series for all the marbles, sits beyond that door. Guiao has already arrived there and won multiple times.

The last time an independent team made it past that door was when the now-defunct Alaska squad advanced to the 2018 Governors’ Cup Finals, falling to Magnolia in six games. As a result, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for teams like the Elasto Painters to get there.

In light of this, few independent squads have the luxury of being able to knock on that door, much less do so three times in a row.

This time, the Elasto Painters will knock more forcefully than before since they are certain that if they are persistent, their requests for entrance would be granted once more.

Why is this team dangerous?

Naturally, all four of the semifinal teams have already developed a rapport on the court and a sense of camaraderie off it, but the Elasto Painters’ development sets them apart from the others.

You can build chemistry. One team, however, is truly unique because of the link that is formed when members grow together as a team, share the same challenges, and experience the same highs and lows from the very beginning. This is the case with the Elasto Painters.

The draft was used to create this team. Nick Demusis and veteran forward Mark Borboran are the only players on their roster that were not selected by the Elasto Painters.

With 148 threes, the Elasto Painters are the league leaders, with TNT coming in second at 140. With 194 fastbreak points, the Tropang Giga is in second place, while the Elasto Painters are just nine points behind at 185.

Rain or Shine will undoubtedly win this series if it turns out to be a fast-paced shootout because it is more comfortable with this style of play and has enough players to maintain its blitz for the majority of the game, including players who can blow up at any moment, like Adrian Nocum, Anton Asistio, Andrei Caracut, Jhonard Clarito, and Santi Santillan.

That’s a huge if, though, because TNT’s defense has proven it can turn things around come playoff time.

By restricting RoS’ possessions, stifling their open court attack, and simply grinding them out for the majority of the five-game series, the Tropang Giga defeated the Elasto Painters in the previous conference.