In 1999, the MBA added three more franchises to increase their number of clubs to 15 with Nueva Ecija, San Juan, Metro Manila and Surigao.
Under former national team coach Joe Lipa, the Patriots will parade Fil-American Alex Crisano, who played in Cortez High School back in the United States and was a slamdunk champion in a Filipino community in New York.
Former Letran Knight Willie Miller, who at that time had an existing contract playing for Tanduay Rhum in the Philippine Basketball League.
Aside from Crisano and Miller, there is the youthful Rensy Bajar, Julius Vinuya, three-point specialist John Verrayo, Ferdinand Ninoc, the Chaneco brothers Joel and Jerome and comebacking cagers Ramil Cruz and Dodong Postanes.
The Patriots struggled throughout the 1999 season despite Miller ranking among the top 10 leaders in scoring, Crisano was later traded to the Pangasinan Waves as they held the third-worst record in the league at 7–23 win-loss slate.