Gab Banal

Gabriel Banal (born September 9, 1990) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Quezon Huskers of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL).

After finishing high school at Xavier School in 2008 and winning a title with Jeric Teng in the now defunct Tiong Lian Basketball Association, Banal played for two years with the De La Salle Green Archers.

Banal was then recruited by Chito Victolero to join the Mapúa Cardinals.

He was initially suspended due to residency issues.

The NCAA then allowed him to play, where he established himself as a solid small forward with averages of 7.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and three assists in 25.3 minutes per game.

In 2013, Banal returned to DLSU, not to play for the Archers, but to finish his information systems degree.

In 2013, Banal played in the PBA D-League where he first played for the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems.

He was drafted 22nd overall pick in the 2nd round of the 2014 PBA Draft.

After spending time with the GlobalPort Batang Pier, he played in the PBA D-League, the MPBL and the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 league before returning to the PBA in 2021.

He is the son of former basketball player and coach Joel Banal.

In 2014, they reached the semifinals of the Foundation Cup, where they were defeated by the NLEX Road Warriors.

He also played for the Tanduay Light Rhum Masters that year.

In 2014, he and his cousins Jonathan Banal and Frank Golla applied for the 2014 PBA Draft.

Shortly after he got drafted by the San Miguel Beermen, he was traded to the Barako Bull Energy along with Jojo Duncil, Chico Lañete and a 2016 first round pick (Jeoffrey Javillonar was later selected), for the draft rights of third pick Ronald Pascual.

In 2017, Banal joined the Flying V Thunder for that year's Foundation Cup.

In his debut, he had 11 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in a win over the Cignal HD Hawkeyes.

In their third game, he had 29 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists as they got their third straight win of the conference.

He then got 12 points in a win over the Marinerong Pilipino Skippers, which was coached by his father and his uncle.

In a win over Racal Motors Alibaba, he had 17 points (with 11 coming in the fourth quarter), six rebounds, and two steals.

They got into the playoffs with a win over the CEU Scorpions, in which he had 11 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists.

They went on to secure the top seed, but they lost to CEU in an upset in the semis.

In the 2018 D-League Aspirants' Cup, Banal played for Marinerong Pilipino, with his father as team consultant and his uncle as head coach.

In his first game, he had 14 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, and four steals as they got their first win of the conference.

He then had 17 points, nine rebounds, and four steals in a win over the EAC Generals, followed by 20 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists in their next win.

Marinerong Pilipino got to the semis, where they lost to Zark’s Burger-Lyceum.

Banal went on to play for the Go For Gold Scratchers.

In a close win over the AMA Online Education Titans, he scored his team's last six points and finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.

He then followed up that performance with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

In a matchup against his former team in Marinerong Pilipino, he scored 24 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals as they got their fourth straight win.

Their streak was broken in a loss to the Che'Lu Revellers.

Go for Gold then got into the Finals as he completed a triple-double with 24 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists against Marinerong Pilipino.

After winning the 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup Finals in five games, he was given the Finals MVP Award.

He and CJ Perez were the first players to receive this award.

He dedicated the award to his father, who suffered a heart attack two days before Game 5.

Banal returned to Marinerong Pilipino for their final games as they were trying to make one last run at the playoffs.

With him, the Skippers were able to win their last two games.

However, it wasn't enough, as they were eliminated by the Chadao-FEU Tamaraws, who had one more win than Marinerong Pilipino.

Soon after the Skippers were eliminated, Banal was brought back to Go For Gold from the free agent pool for the playoffs where they faced CEU.

He was able to extend the series to a do-or-die game with a game-winning triple.

He then dropped 18 points, six boards and six assists in the do-or-die game but they still lost, despite CEU going down to a seven-man rotation due to most of its players being dropped from the team for game-fixing.