Kib Montalbo

Kirell Brahndon Paco Montalbo (born April 2, 1996) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Montalbo's first sports were billiards and swimming.

He then tried out basketball after playing in his school's intramurals.

He first played for Bacolod Tay Tung High School in the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Educational Association (NOPSSCEA), where his father was an assistant coach.

In 2009, he led his school to the NOPSSCEA finals where he scored 37 points but lost to St. John's Institute (SJI).

He then transferred to SJI, where in his first year, he scored 45 points in the NOPSSCEA finals, but lost to the West Negros University Junior Mustangs.

In his final year with SJI, they dethroned the defending champion Junior Mustangs in the semifinals then went on to sweep the University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos Junior Rams in the best-of-three finals.

In 2009, Montalbo was part of a Western Visayas selection that won the silver medal in that year's Palarong Pambansa.

His team was defeated by a National Capital Region (NCR) team led by future PBA player Renzo Subido.

He was also a part of the 2010 Jr. NBA All Star–Philippines team that saw action in China.

In 2011, he played in the Seaoil Elite League, a basketball program held by the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) for high schoolers.

He helped his team get to the finals where they lost to a selection from Cebu.

Montalbo was recruited by De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University.

He was seen as the second-best recruit in the country behind Jerie Pingoy.

The entire DLSU coaching staff, star player Jeron Teng and even chief Archers patron Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco made a trip to his hometown of Bacolod just to recruit him.

On January 4, 2013, he committed to DLSU.

He chose them as many of his family members, including his parents, are alumni of that university.

Coming into DLSU, Montalbo was seen as their next big recruit since Jeron Teng.

To start his rookie season however, he was often on the bench behind LA Revilla and Thomas Torres.

He started getting minutes after Torres was out with an illness.

That season, the De La Salle Green Archers won the championship over the UST Growling Tigers.

In 2014, Montalbo and Subido participated in the Nike All-Asia Basketball Camp, where they both made the Top 20 Asian Players list.

In Season 77, he stepped up once again as Torres was out with another injury, and took the starting role.

In a win over the Adamson Soaring Falcons, he had a college career-high 18 points.

In a win over the Tigers, he pulled a calf muscle, which took him out of the rotation for a week.

That season, the Archers made the Final Four, but were defeated by the FEU Tamaraws.

In 2015, during a Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup match against the UE Red Warriors, Montalbo suffered an ACL injury.

Without him, the Archers didn't make the Final Four in Season 78.

He used the time away from basketball to recover and focus on his studies, making the dean's list for his course in business management.

He made his return to the team during the 2016 Filoil Cup.

In a Season 79 win over Adamson, he 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals.

That performance led to him earning a Player of the Week award, becoming the third Archer that season to win one after Ben Mbala and Teng.

Later in the tournament, he hit a clutch triple against Adamson that gave La Salle their eighth straight win.

Their win streak ended at 12 games with a loss to their archrivals the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

In their last game of the elimination round, he scored 13 points in a win over FEU, and the Archers finished first in the standings with a record of 13–1.

He finished the elimination rounds third in minutes per game on the team.

They went on to sweep Ateneo in the Finals.

That season, he led the league with career-highs of 2.8 steals and 2.8 assists.

This was his second UAAP championship.

He was awarded the Pivotal Player Award during the 2017 Collegiate Basketball Awards.