Paul Desiderio
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Andres Paul C. Desiderio (born February 2, 1997) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the
Abra Solid North Weavers The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...
of the
Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...
(MPBL). Previously played for the
Blackwater Bossing The Blackwater Bossing is a professional basketball team owned by Ever Bilena, Inc. that is playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) beginning in the 2014–2015 season. The franchise started as one of the founding teams in the ...
of the
Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...
(PBA), he was also a former collegiate star player for the
UP Fighting Maroons The UP Fighting Maroons are the collegiate varsity teams of the University of the Philippines Diliman. The teams play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the Philippines' premier college sports league. UP is one o ...
.


Early life and high school career

Desiderio was born in
Liloan, Cebu Liloan, officially the Municipality of Liloan (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 153,197 people. Making it t ...
. He started playing basketball at the age of eight. He also went to his father's summer league games and learned the basics of the game from the basketball clinics held every summer by Edsel Vallena and former pro Teroy Albarillo. Desiderio played for the
University of the Visayas The University of the Visayas (UV) is a private institution located in Cebu City, Philippines. It is the first school in the province of Cebu to attain university status. History Vicente Gullas (1898–1970) founded the University of the Visa ...
Baby Lancers (UV) of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) in high school. He became Juniors MVP and made it to the Finals in 2011 against the
Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) (commonly referred to as ''Ateneo de Cebu''), () formerly known as ''Sacred Heart School for Boys (SHS-B)'', is a private, Catholic, Chinese-Filipino college-preparatory, K-12 school run by the ...
Magis Eagles. In Game 2, he and future
Blackwater Bossing The Blackwater Bossing is a professional basketball team owned by Ever Bilena, Inc. that is playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) beginning in the 2014–2015 season. The franchise started as one of the founding teams in the ...
teammate Ron Dennison scored the final eight points to secure the win, with Desiderio finishing with 18 points. He also played in the CESAFI All-Star Games that year. In 2012, he was given a citation by the Sportswriter's Association of Cebu (SAC). He played in the 2013 SEAOIL NBTC Games, which showcases many players from various high schools around the country.


College career


Dark days (2013–2014)

After his high school years, he joined the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons. His first season was Season 76. They finished that season 0–14. It was also during this time that he considered transferring to the
FEU Tamaraws The FEU Tamaraws and Lady Tamaraws are the varsity teams of Far Eastern University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). The university's high school varsity teams are called the ''FEU-D Baby Tamaraws, Baby Tamaraws'' ...
. Desiderio didn't play in Season 77 because of his commitment to playing in the FIBA U17 World Championship and the FIBA Asia U18 Championship that year. He also skipped that season to focus on his studies. Despite his absence, the Maroons won their first game in two years.


Slow return to relevance (2015–2016)

In the preseason, Desiderio and the Maroons won the
Filsports Basketball Association Filsports Basketball Association (FBA) was a regional grassroots amateur basketball league based in the Philippines, aiming to discover young and talented basketball players from the provinces and regions. Formed in January 2015, by a group of b ...
(FBA) championship. That momentum carried over to their first game of Season 78, which they won, 62–55, against the
UE Red Warriors The UE Red Warriors, Lady Warriors, Junior Warriors and Lady Junior Warriors are the collegiate men's and women's, and high school men's and women's, respectively, varsity teams of the University of the East (UE) that play in the University Athle ...
. They captured their second straight win in a row against the DLSU Green Archers, 71–66, with Desiderio scoring 13 points. After that start, they lost their next five games, sending them to 7th place. They were able to bounce back with a win against the
Adamson Soaring Falcons The Adamson Soaring Falcons, Lady Falcons, Baby Falcons and Lady Baby Falcons are the collegiate men's and women's, and high school men's and women's, respectively, varsity teams of Adamson University that play in the University Athletic Associa ...
. They unfortunately finished the season 3–11, which was still better than its combined record from the past two UAAP seasons. In his final game of the season, Desiderio put up 26 points and 6 rebounds. Throughout that season, he never scored less than seven points a game. The next season, Desiderio had a new head coach in
Bo Perasol Dolreich "Bo" Perasol (born November 30, 1971) is a Filipino people, Filipino basketball coach. He coaches in both collegiate and professional leagues. He is the former head coach of the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the UP Fighting Maroons, and is the c ...
. In their first game of Season 79, Desiderio had 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists, but still lost due to rookie guard Jerrick Ahanmisi's debut of 28 points on 6-of-7 threes. They got their first win of the season against UE with him scoring 17 points. After a win against the
Ateneo Blue Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The Ateneo collegiate ...
, he scored 16 points in another win against Adamson. He almost had a triple-double in a win against the
UST Growling Tigers The UST Growling Tigers, Tigresses, Tiger Cubs and Tigress Cubs are the Collegiate athletics, collegiate and high school men's and women's varsity teams of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the University Athletic Association of the Phili ...
, with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Unfortunately, they finished with a record of 5–9, missing the playoffs, but still their best outing since 2006. Desiderio became the first UP basketball player since Marvin Cruz to be named to the UAAP Mythical Five. His averages for that season were 15.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists.


'Atin to' and return to Finals (2017–2018)

After playing for Café France in the off-season, Desiderio improved as a shooter. The Maroons also won two off-season tournaments. Expectations were high for him and the Maroons to finally make the Final Four. In their first game of Season 80, UST led 73–71 with 5.3 seconds left. He was heard by a live television audience saying "Atin 'to. Papasok 'to (This is ours. It will go in)," as Coach Perasol encouraged him to take the shot if he was open. He then hit the game-winning triple with 1.4 seconds left, 74–73. He finished that game with 17 points on only 6-of-20 shooting including 2-of-11 on threes. "Atin 'To" became the rallying cry for the team and for fans. A loss to Ateneo dropped them to 1–1. He had a then career-high 28 points to go along with his 10 rebounds to tow UP past UE. He broke that career-high the next game with 30 points over previous champion La Salle. For that, he won his first UAAP Player of the Week. FEU then held him to 9 points, with his former teammate Ron Dennison getting most of the credit. But in their next matchup, he hit another game-winning triple, giving UP a 5–6 record. A win against the National University Bulldogs kept their Final Four hopes alive, but a win by FEU over Adamson eliminated them from contention. His averages for that season were 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Desiderio returned for his final year in Season 81. They started the season 1–3, then went 3–5. In a win against FEU, he finished with a new career-high of 31 points on 7-of-9 from three. A 97–81 win against La Salle ended their 21-year absence from the Final Four. Their first matchup in the Final Four was against Adamson, who held a twice-to-beat advantage over them, and had beaten twice that season. In Game 1, he had 19 points, but it was teammate import Bright Akhuetie who won the game for UP, 73–71. Desiderio set the screen on Adamson import Papi Sarr which enabled Akhuetie to hit the game-winning shot. In Game 2, Adamson sent the game into overtime. But with six seconds remaining, Desiderio hit a mid-range jumper over Sean Manganti for UP to win 89–87. The win sent UP to their first Finals since 1986. In the Finals, they faced Ateneo. Unfortunately, Ateneo swept them in the best-of-three Finals. He averaged 13.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals in his final year. He was also named to the All-Collegiate Team. Desiderio was seen as a cult hero and one of the biggest contributors to the renaissance of UP's basketball program. After that season, he then declared for the PBA draft.


Amateur career

Desiderio played for Café France in the
PBA D-League The PBA D-League, or PBA Developmental League, is the official minor league of the Philippine Basketball Association. History The PBA D-League was conceptualized after the collapse of the proposed merger between the Philippine Basketball Leag ...
Aspirants Cup. His team lost in the semifinals. In 2018, he played for Go for Gold. His team won the D-League Foundation Cup in 5 games.


Professional career


Blackwater Elite/Bossing (2019–2022)

Desiderio was drafted 4th overall by the
NLEX Road Warriors The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by Manila North Tollways Corporation, NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014 ...
during the 2018 PBA draft, surprising many. Days after the draft, he was then sent to the Blackwater Elite along with Michael Miranda and Abu Tratter for big man Poy Erram and a second round pick in a three team trade with the
TNT Katropa The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fran ...
. In his first game for the Elite, Desiderio debuted with just five points on 2-of-6 shooting in a 117–91 loss to the
Northport Batang Pier The NorthPort Batang Pier is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team that first played in the 2012–13 PBA season. The team took over the franchise of the Powerade Tigers in 2012 after it was sold to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Besides Nor ...
. Despite scoring just 2 points in a loss to Meralco, he had 9 rebounds. He had 12 points (9 in the fourth) in a loss to the
Phoenix Fuel Masters The Phoenix Fuel Masters is a professional basketball team owned by Phoenix Petroleum, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which debuted in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in the 2015–16 PBA season, 2016 2016 PBA Commissioner's C ...
in the 2019 Philippine Cup. He played in the Rookie-Sophomores vs Juniors game and scored 12 points. In the 2019 Governor's Cup, he had a PBA career-high of 24 points with 6 three-pointers in a 115–109 loss to NLEX. He missed most of the 2020 Philippine Cup due to a grave leg muscle sprain and left the PBA bubble. Desiderio got a one-year contract extension during the 2021 Governor's Cup. That conference, he had eight points in a win over the
Magnolia Hotshots The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc., a subsidiary of San Migu ...
that ended Blackwater's 29–game losing streak. Before the start of the
2022–23 PBA season The 2022–23 PBA season or PBA season 47 was the 47th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). For the first time in two seasons, the league returned to its regular three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup. The ...
, Desiderio suffered an injury in a tuneup game against the
TNT Tropang Giga The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fra ...
. Several days later, the injury was diagnosed to be an ACL injury, forcing him to miss that season. On September 14, 2022, while on the unrestricted free agent with rights to salary (UFAWR2S) list of Blackwater, it was initially reported that Desiderio's rights will be traded to the
NLEX Road Warriors The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by Manila North Tollways Corporation, NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014 ...
in a three-team trade involving Blackwater, NLEX, and
TNT Tropang Giga The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fra ...
. However, the trade version that was approved on September 19 included two future draft picks, not Desiderio's rights. Shortly after the trade's approval, Desiderio announced his retirement from the PBA, citing that he is going back to his native
Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
to allow his ACL injury to heal and to start a new life.


3x3 career

On November 13, 2022, it was announced that Desiderio would be joining Talisay EGS for the 2022 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Quest 2.0. His team was eliminated in the semifinals of that tournament. In 2023, during the Al Bidda Park Challenger, Desiderio led the Manila Chooks to an upset win over Antwerp, which ranked third in the Fiba World Tour standings. However, they finished ninth in that tournament.


PBA career statistics


Real GM


Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align=left , 2019 Blackwater Elite season, Blackwater , 31 , , 16.3 , , .369 , , .286 , , .667 , , 2.7 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .1 , , 4.5 , - , align=left , , align=left , Blackwater , 5 , , 13.5 , , .667 , , .571 , , .200 , , 3.6 , , .2 , , .4 , , .0 , , 5.0 , - , align=left , , align=left , Blackwater , 21 , , 17.6 , , .362 , , .235 , , .526 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 5.7 , -class="sortbottom" , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 57 , , 16.5 , , .381 , , .275 , , .569 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.0


National team career

Desiderio first played for the Philippines in the 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Men. He averaged 11 points and nearly 7 rebounds a game as the team made it all the way to the Finals, qualifying them for next year's 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship. In the U17 Championship, he averaged 10 points, 4.7 rebounds and nearly 3 assists in the tournament, highlighted by 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in their lone win against the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
(UAE). In the Asian U18 Championship, he averaged 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Desiderio was also named to the "23-for-2023" pool, which was composed of young players for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.


Personal life

Desiderio was engaged to Jean Agatha Uvero, a former courtside reporter for UP. They have a daughter, Paula, and a son, Juan Andres. In 2022, the couple separated. In July 2022, Uvero accused the PBA player of physical, emotional abuse through Twitter. She stated that Desiderio strangled, punched, kicked and hit her during their relationship, even when she was pregnant with their son. The PBA then issued a statement saying that they would conduct an inquiry. Desiderio then denied these accusations. Desiderio has several successful business ventures. He has his own
Chooks-to-Go Chooks-to-Go is a chain of stores owned by Bounty Agro Ventures, Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI), a privately owned company operating in the Philippines. It offers Roasting, roast Chicken (food), chicken and processed meat for take-out. Hist ...
branch and he and his former fiancée opened a franchise of Kurimi Milk Tea Bar.


References


External links


PBA.ph profileProfile
at
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Desiderio, Paul 1997 births Living people Basketball players from Cebu Blackwater Bossing players Filipino men's 3x3 basketball players Filipino men's basketball players 21st-century Filipino sportsmen NLEX Road Warriors draft picks Shooting guards University of the Visayas alumni UP Fighting Maroons men's basketball players