In the off-season, the Kings made few adjustments to their roster by trading Macapagal to Coca-Cola for guard Chris Pacana and Chia to Talk 'N Text for veteran Victor Pablo, who finally donned the Ginebra jersey 15 years after he was drafted. They also boosted their backcourt by drafting Macky Escalona from Ateneo and acquiring Paul Artadi from Air21 after being traded by Purefoods. They also added depth by getting Willy Wilson. Still, they lacked interior presence due to the loss of Hatfield and injuries to Rafi Reavis and Billy Mamaril. Despite having Helterbrand back in the lineup, they have yet returned to their competitive form because Caguioa got injured. They won the opening game against Red Bull but finished the eliminations 8–10. They ended up in the wildcard phase where they met Air21 and lose 119–110, ending its title defense. After failing to defend their Philippine Cup crown, they signed Alex Crisano to supplement their front court and Rahshon Turner as their import for the 2008 PBA Fiesta Conference. Despite a different look, the Kings had a slow start losing their first five games with both Turner and Ernest Brown. To stop the losing streak, they replaced Brown with another recruit from the NBA Development League, Chris Alexander whose inside scoring and rebounding helped the Kings win 10 of their next 13 games in the eliminations. The Kings ended on a high note ending the eliminations 10–8 with an outright quarterfinals berth. They faced Sta. Lucia in the quarterfinals and completed a 2-game sweep en route to another showdown against Red Bull. In the semis, which everyone predicted to be a 7-game showdown saw the Kings sweep the Barakos that included a 101–97 overtime victory in Game 4. So convincingly was the sweep that they shamed Red Bull all throughout the series. After the last game of the series, the Barakos went all the way to their locker room without congratulating Barangay Ginebra. This gave Ginebra its first series sweep in franchise history, and its 17th finals appearance. This also gave Uichico his 12th finals appearance (second with Ginebra) and the third sweep in league history since the 1992 Third Conference when Swift swept 7-Up in the finals. The Game 4 victory extended their winning streak dating back from the eliminations to 12 (the longest in franchise history). In the finals, they met the Air21 who sought to win its first franchise title.